How Hospitals Sustain Patient Care When Systems Go Dark

Описание: In this episode of Building Cyber Resilience: A Healthcare Leader’s Guide, host Josh Howell speaks with Drex DeFord, veteran healthcare CIO, strategist, and President of 229 Cyber & Risk at This Week Health. Drawing on decades of experience leading technology and transformation across organizations like the U.S. Air Force, Seattle Children’s, Scripps Health, and Steward Healthcare, Drex explores what it really takes to sustain patient care when cyberattacks force systems offline. The conversation focuses on defining essential people, processes, and technologies before a crisis hits, so hospitals can continue operating when everything else stops.

🎧 You’ll learn:
Why sustaining patient care during downtime is now a leadership responsibility
How cyber resilience shifted from IT recovery to operational survival
Why modern hospitals cannot rely on “running on paper” for extended outages
How cost optimization quietly removed redundancy from healthcare systems
How to identify the most critical dependencies when systems go dark
Why starting small beats trying to build a perfect resilience plan
How scenario thinking clarifies priorities faster than abstract planning
Why pre-approved incident response partners save critical time during recovery

YouTube Chapters:
[00:00] Welcome and Introduction to Drex DeFord
[01:43] Why Leaders Fail When They Tackle Resilience Alone
[04:31] What CIOs Really Talk About Behind Closed Doors
[06:34] Why Resilience Is No Longer Just Business Continuity
[08:45] Planning for Days or Weeks Without Core Systems
[09:32] Why “Running on Paper” Breaks Down Fast
[12:52] How Lean Systems Removed Hidden Safety Margins
[15:17] Balancing Cost Pressure With Operational Risk
[17:07] Where to Start When You Can’t Fix Everything
[19:13] If You Knew an Attack Was Coming Next Week
[20:23] What Recovery Testing Reveals That Planning Misses
[21:10] Why Incident Response Pre-Approval Saves Time
[22:17] Insurance, Legal, and Retainer Decisions Before a Crisis
[23:34] Speed as the Defining Factor in Cyber Recovery
[24:12] Final Reflections and Closing Thoughts

👉 You can explore the resilience framework discussed in this episode and access the supporting asset here : https://www.rubrik.com/lp/white-paper....


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