Rural Hospital Cybersecurity Enhancement Act

This bill focuses on helping rural hospitals protect patient data from cyberattacks by growing the cybersecurity workforce and sharing easy-to-use training materials. Within one year, the Health and Human Services Secretary must create a national plan to build cybersecurity skills in rural hospitals. The plan should involve working with other federal agencies, schools, private groups, and rural providers in every region, and it can suggest new laws or rules if needed . The Secretary must also provide yearly updates on progress, including how many people are trained and how well the plan is working .

The bill also requires the government to offer practical training materials that rural hospitals can use to teach staff basic cybersecurity steps. These materials should be ready within one year, draw on expert input, adapt existing resources when possible, and be promoted so hospitals know about them. The bill does not add new funding for this work .

• Who is affected: Rural hospitals and their staff; patients benefit from better protection of health data .
• What changes: A nationwide workforce plan, clear teaching materials, and yearly progress briefings to Congress .
• When: Strategy and materials due within one year of the law taking effect; briefings happen every year after that .