The Senate passed the Health Care Cybersecurity and Resiliency Act by unanimous consent, moving a bipartisan package to the House.
Virginia Sen. Mark Warner led the bill with Sens. Bill Cassidy, Maggie Hassan, and John Cornyn. It directs federal grants to help providers build up defenses and requires agencies that respond to healthcare attacks to coordinate more closely.
Rural hospitals and clinics, which often lack dedicated security staff, get extra support. The bill follows a steady drumbeat of intrusions that have forced hospitals to divert ambulances, postpone surgeries, and fall back to paper records.
The measure is separate from two other proposals moving on Capitol Hill: the Rural Hospital Cybersecurity Enhancement Act, which got a House subcommittee hearing in September, and the Health Infrastructure Security and Accountability Act, which would set minimum security standards.
The overlap signals that lawmakers increasingly see healthcare as critical infrastructure in need of federal help. Warner urged the House to act quickly.
What the bill does not do is impose binding security mandates; it leans on grants and coordination. Whether that is enough to change hospital risk postures will depend on funding and adoption.
