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Guided by leaders from 8+ health systems, work group will develop sector’s first set of practical, peer-developed playbooks on frontier model cyber risk and readiness

Washington, DC — August 12, 2026 — Today, Coalition for Health AI (CHAI), a nonprofit organization founded by clinicians to advance responsible health AI, announced new efforts to enable health systems, payers, and health tech companies to respond to frontier model threats – defending against potential attacks and harnessing frontier models for defense.

The Health AI Cybersecurity Work Group, led by a leadership council of health system, payer, and industry experts, will give healthcare organizations the sector’s first practical, peer-developed guidance on frontier model cyber risk and readiness through playbooks released at the end of 2026. The effort will be steered by the following leadership council members, who will guide the nearly 100-member work group:

• Hamed Abbaszadegan, Foundation Board Member, Healthcare Standards Institute

• Randy Arvay, CTO & CISO, Duke Health

• Alan Berry, CISO, Centene

• James Case, CISO, Baptist Health

• John Flores, CISO, University of Texas Medical Branch and UT Health Intelligence Platform ISO (UT System Initiatives)

• Ed Gaudet, CEO and Founder, Censinet

• Kevin Hamel, CISO, Hartford HealthCare

• Josh Howell, Healthcare CTO, Rubrik

• Bruce James, CISO, Boston Children’s Hospital

• Shawn Kelly, CISO, UCI Health

• Isaiah Nathaniel, SVP & CIO, Delaware Valley Community Health

• Zach Powers, CISO, Abridge

• Janet Rathod, CISO, Johns Hopkins Health System

• Errol Weiss, CSO, Health-ISAC

“Health systems have always faced cybersecurity challenges, but today’s advancements in AI fundamentally change our threat level. With these unprecedented capabilities, it’s key that industry leaders work together to develop a real toolkit for hospitals, health systems and beyond,” said John Flores, CISO, University of Texas Medical Branch. “I applaud CHAI for moving quickly to gather this work group – as hospitals of all sizes are seeking resources to combat risks associated with new complex technologies.”

The release of Anthropic’s Mythos-class frontier models, including the public Fable variant release on June 9, 2026, introduced a fundamentally changed cybersecurity threat and defense landscape for healthcare. These Mythos-class capabilities compress attack timelines, industrialize protected health information exfiltration and ransomware, and offer defenders unprecedented capabilities for vulnerability management and incident response.

“As AI rapidly transforms our industry, it also brings new speed, scale, and sophistication to cyberthreats. On the ground in a health system – particularly in underserved and lower-resourced communities – it suggests a new playbook is needed,” said Isaiah Nathaniel, SVP & CISO, Delaware Valley Community Health. “That’s what this effort is about – collaborating with the entire healthcare ecosystem to share insights and make informed, practical recommendations for action. We need to ensure that all parts of healthcare, including systems of all sizes, are equipped to handle the downsides that come along with technological advances. I look forward to working with my fellow health system and industry leaders in developing guidance to keep us and our patients safe.”

CHAI’s 100-member Health AI Cybersecurity Work Group will collaborate through bi-weekly work sessions to develop a range of outputs, including a defensive playbook, offensive playbook, frontier AI cyber risk assessment tool, and more. The leadership council will oversee these efforts and ensure the resources meet the threat levels that hospitals and health systems are actively facing.

“We are convening cyber experts across healthcare – from community hospitals to academic medical centers as well as members of our technology and cybersecurity ecosystem – because preparing for cyber vulnerabilities is critical and urgent,” said Brian Anderson, CEO of CHAI. “As a provider-led community committed to responsible AI in health, we play a critical role in keeping patients, staff, data, and operations safe and secure from emerging threats through information sharing, playbooks, resources, and tools that enable meaningful action.”

Today's effort builds upon CHAI's broader mission of developing consensus-driven frameworks, governance tools, and best practices that enable trustworthy AI adoption across healthcare. To register for the upcoming Cybersecurity Webinar, visit this link. To join this cybersecurity work group effort, click here. For those interested in becoming a CHAI member, find more information at: https://www.chai.org/membership.

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