AHA Support for Senate Rural Hospital Cybersecurity Enhancement Act

January 14 2026

Dear Sens. Hawley, Hassan and Kelly:

On behalf of our nearly 5,000 member hospitals, health systems and other health care organizations, our clinician partners — including more than 270,000 affiliated physicians, 2 million nurses and other caregivers — and the 43,000 health care leaders who belong to our professional membership groups, the American Hospital Association (AHA) writes to express support for the Rural Hospital Cybersecurity Enhancement Act (S. 2169).

Cybersecurity is critical to ensuring that hospitals can provide safe, high-quality care to their communities. Hospitals and health systems have invested billions of dollars and taken many steps to protect patients and defend their networks from cyberattacks that can disrupt patient care and erode privacy by the loss of personal health care data.

Rural hospitals can face unique risks, challenges and impacts when defending against cyberattacks. Rural hospitals are geographically remote, located in non-metropolitan counties, and may be well over a hundred miles from the nearest hospital. Ransomware attacks, which result in diverting patients and ambulances, can create delays in the provision of critical health care services and elevate the risk of negative outcomes for patients. Rural hospitals can also face financial, human and technical resource challenges, which can affect the ability to respond to the increased cyber threat environment.

Your Rural Hospital Cybersecurity Enhancement Act would direct the Department of Health and Human Services to create a comprehensive workforce strategy to train cybersecurity professionals in rural hospitals and develop partnerships to expand the cybersecurity workforce for rural hospitals. This framework will give rural hospitals tools to strengthen cybersecurity and mitigate risks associated with harmful cyber threats.

We thank you for your leadership on behalf of our nation’s rural hospitals and look forward to working with you to enact this important legislation.

Sincerely,

/s/

Lisa Kidder Hrobsky
Senior Vice President
Advocacy and Political Affairs