Healthcare Cybersecurity
HIPAA-aligned security for clinics, health systems, and healthtech companies — built around how care actually gets delivered.
Care Delivery Doesn't Stop for Security
Healthcare organizations carry two burdens most industries don't: protected health information that's extraordinarily valuable to attackers, and systems that can't simply be taken offline to fix. A ransomware incident that would cost another business a bad week can cost a clinic its ability to see patients.
We work with clinics, health systems, and healthtech companies to build security programs that hold up under HIPAA scrutiny, survive a real attack, and don't grind clinical workflows to a halt in the process.
Why Healthcare Is a Target
- PHI sells for far more than credit card data on the black market
- Uptime pressure makes ransomware payouts more likely
- Legacy EHR and medical device software is slow to patch
- Large, distributed staff with varying security awareness
- Business associates and vendors widen the attack surface
- Regulatory exposure compounds the cost of a breach
Risks Specific to Healthcare
The threats that consistently show up in our healthcare engagements.
Hospitals and clinics are prime ransomware targets because attackers know downtime forces fast payment decisions. Backup integrity and IR readiness matter more here than almost anywhere else.
Electronic health record platforms and connected medical devices often run on outdated software that can't be patched on a normal cadence — requiring compensating controls, not just patching.
Billing services, transcription vendors, and cloud EHR hosts all touch PHI under a BAA. A breach at any of them is your breach — vendor security review matters as much as your own controls.
Attackers impersonate vendors and payers to redirect payments, or compromise staff inboxes to intercept claims and reimbursements — a growing category of healthcare-targeted BEC.
Large clinical and administrative staff rosters with frequent turnover make access review and offboarding hygiene a persistent, high-stakes operational task.
Breaches trigger HIPAA breach notification obligations, potential OCR investigation, and state law requirements — on top of the incident response itself.
How Helm Helps
Services we most often deliver for healthcare organizations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a HIPAA risk assessment satisfy our Security Rule requirement?
A properly scoped risk assessment is the core requirement, but it needs to cover your actual technology environment — EHR configuration, medical devices, remote access, and business associate relationships — not just a generic policy checklist. Our audit and assessment engagements are built to hold up under OCR scrutiny, not just check a box.
We're a small clinic. Do we really need a security assessment?
Yes — HIPAA applies regardless of size, and small practices are frequent ransomware targets precisely because attackers assume weaker defenses. We scale engagements to fit practices from a handful of providers up to multi-site health systems.
Can you help with a security review before a PE transaction or acquisition?
Yes. We have deep experience taking healthtech companies through private equity due diligence — both sell-side readiness and buy-side target assessment — with an understanding of what healthcare-focused investors and their diligence teams actually look for.