U.S. HICP (Medium Practice) — Health Industry Cybersecurity Practices

Overview

U.S. HICP (Medium Practice) is a cybersecurity framework tailored for medium-sized healthcare organizations, providing practical guidance for identifying, managing, and mitigating common cybersecurity threats. The framework aims to enhance cybersecurity resilience and protect sensitive health information within medium-sized healthcare settings.

Developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in collaboration with industry and government partners, HICP Medium Practice is designed for organizations with 200 to 500 employees. It provides threat-specific mitigation recommendations organized into ten cybersecurity practice areas, focusing on the five most prevalent cyber threats facing healthcare organizations.

Organizations implement HICP Medium Practice by integrating its recommended practices into existing security and compliance programs, conducting risk assessments, and aligning cybersecurity activities with HIPAA and other applicable regulations.

Why it Matters

HICP (Medium Practice) provides medium-sized healthcare organizations with actionable, threat-focused cybersecurity guidance scaled to their operational environment.

Key benefits include:

Address healthcare-specific threats

Implement targeted controls for the five most prevalent cyber threats to healthcare organizations, including phishing and ransomware.

Support HIPAA compliance

Align security practices with HIPAA Security Rule requirements through practical, implementable guidance tailored to medium healthcare settings.

Improve risk management

Apply a structured risk management approach to prioritize security investments and reduce cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

Enhance incident response

Develop capabilities to detect, contain, and recover from cybersecurity incidents affecting clinical operations and patient data.

How it Works

HICP Medium Practice structures its guidance around five key cyber threats to healthcare organizations and ten cybersecurity practice areas. The framework maps threats to specific technical practices with recommendations scaled to the medium practice size and complexity.

Organizations implement HICP Medium Practice by conducting gap assessments against the ten practice areas, prioritizing improvements based on threat relevance and risk, implementing recommended technical and administrative controls, and monitoring ongoing compliance.

Key Elements

Threat-Focused Practice Areas

Organizes cybersecurity guidance around the five key threats most relevant to healthcare organizations of medium size.

Ten Cybersecurity Practice Areas

Provides structured guidance across ten domains including email protection, endpoint protection, and access management.

Scalable Technical Recommendations

Offers implementation guidance scaled to the capabilities and resources of medium-sized healthcare organizations.

HIPAA Alignment

Connects cybersecurity practices to HIPAA Security Rule requirements to support regulatory compliance.

Framework Scope

U.S. HICP (Medium Practice) is designed for healthcare organizations with 200 to 500 employees handling electronic health information and clinical operations.

Framework Objectives

HICP (Medium Practice) provides medium-sized healthcare organizations with targeted cybersecurity guidance to reduce threats and improve resilience.

Address the five most prevalent cybersecurity threats facing medium healthcare organizations

Support HIPAA compliance through practical, scalable security controls

Enhance cybersecurity risk management and governance practices

Improve detection and response capabilities for cyber incidents

Protect patient data and clinical operations from cybersecurity threats

Enable audit readiness through documented security practices and controls