Chris Apgar, President & CEO of Apgar & Associates, recently joined the Health Sector Coordinating Council’s (HSCC) Joint Cybersecurity Working Group on behalf of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). HSCC is a coalition of industry associations and their members that collaborates with healthcare industry leaders and the government to address the healthcare sector’s top security and resiliency challenges. The HSCC’s Joint Cybersecurity Working Group represents the combined talent of HSCC members and its government partners from HHS and DHS.
Apgar, who’s been an active AHIMA member since 2011, was approached by Lauren Riplinger, JD, AHIMA’s vice president of Policy & Government Affairs, to represent the organization on the HSCC Working Group’s Workforce Development Task Force.
“We are pleased to have Chris representing health information professionals on the Healthcare Sector Coordinating Council Joint Cybersecurity Working Group. Chris is a well-known AHIMA member and recognized expert and education instructor on information security, privacy, HIPAA, the HITECH Act, state privacy law, and health information exchange. His prior role as a member of WEDI’s Board of Directors and his current role as the chair of Oregon’s PDMP Advisory Commission makes him well-positioned to help address some of most pressing security and resilience challenges for the healthcare sector,” Riplinger stated.
As part of the Working Group, Apgar will serve on the Workforce Development Task Group, which in 2021 will develop guidance for:
- Mapping healthcare cyber professional skills to job roles (e.g., NICE Framework/800-181);
- cybersecurity curriculum for medical, nursing, and pharmacy schools.
“I’m honored that AHIMA asked me to represent them as part of this collaborative platform between the government and private sectors. I look forward to applying both personal interest and professional experience to HSCC’s endeavors, “ said Apgar, who holds the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) designation and is a CCISO through the EC-Council’s CCISO program.
About Apgar & Associates, LLC. The consultancy’s information security and privacy services encompass strategic planning for risk management and compliance programs, as well as consulting on security incidence response, risk analysis, and policy and procedures.
For certification readiness (HITRUST, SOC2, ISO), the team guides financial, healthcare providers, and technology business partners through the what and how of evidence collection, as well as the explicit requirements for the certifications. They also help organizations decide which of the various certifications align with the business’s privacy and information security strategy. For more information about Apgar & Associates, please visit their website or contact them at 503-384-2538.
About the HSCC. The responsibility of all Sector Coordinating Councils (SCC) is captured in three iterations of a Presidential Executive Order dating to 1998, the most recent being Presidential Policy Directive 21 in 2013, which calls on 16 critical industry sectors to self-organize – in partnership with the government – around the mission to protect essential assets and services from existential threats, both physical/operational and cyber. Under the executive order, the HSCC is recognized as the private industry partner to the Department of Health and Human Services, which looks to us – in a non-regulatory, partnership posture – to help develop policy and operational improvements that enable our sector to better protect against and respond to threats, vulnerabilities and incidents. For more information about the HSCC, please visit their website.
About AHIMA. The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) is the leading voice and authority in health information, wherever it is found. Our people work at the intersection of healthcare, technology, and business.
While our patients don’t often see us, we see our patients in a way no other healthcare professional does. That is because AHIMA-certified professionals ensure that sensitive health stories remain accurate, accessible, protected, and complete—at all times. AHIMA educates health information professionals to ensure the patient stays connected to their data throughout the healthcare process.
As the global nonprofit association of health information professionals, our mission of empowering people to impact health is a prescient rallying cry during the Covid-19 pandemic. For more information about AHIMA, please visit the website.
