FDA Governance Update: Process Continues to Move Forward

FDA Governance Update:

Process Continues to Move Forward

By Dr. Drew Johnson, FDA Governance Task Group Chair

It is important and responsible for leadership to evaluate whether the Florida Dental Association (FDA) is running efficiently and is well positioned for the future. This was the impetus for the FDA’s governance review process which has required a great deal of thought, work and input from members throughout the state. Each step of the process has included approvals from the FDA Board of Trustees (BOT) and House of Delegates (HOD) as well as opportunities for member and component comments, explanatory materials, a webinar and a special “town hall” meeting of the FDA’s Council on Ethics, Bylaws and Judicial Affairs (CEBJA).

A brief recap of the process to this point:

Establishing Task Group — Members from each component came together in 2020 to form a task group and have been working on evaluation and improvement of the association’s governance structure since. The BOT selected Michael Gallery,

PhD, a nationally recognized leader in association governance, to assist members of the task group in identifying FDA governance problems and developing our own solutions.

Identifying Principles of Good Governance — The first step in the process was to identify the principles upon which our governance structure should be based. Determining Problems — We defined a problem as a critical difference between what should be and what is. Therefore, the task group compared the approved governance principles (what should be) against the FDA’s current structure (what is) to identify gaps (problems).

Presenting Solutions — The task group developed suggested solutions to agreed-upon problems. The proposed solutions were presented via a webinar to all members who wished to participate that included opportunities for asking questions and offering suggestions. The proposed changes were also provided to all components for review and comment. More than 95% of the HOD voted in favor of the proposed solutions.

Change Bylaws to Align with House-Approved Changes — CEBJA is reviewing the approved solutions and developing recommended bylaws changes which will align the bylaws so they’re consistent with the new structure. Those proposed bylaws will be presented to the BOT in December and the HOD in January.

The governance changes have been carefully developed with each step building on previous steps in the process. We are pleased with the progress and believe that this new governance structure will be beneficial for members and the association as we continue to move forward.

Addressing Cyber-risk Matters for Everyone

Cybercrime is increasing like never before. Business email compromise incidents led the way with the frequency of reported incidents up 51% throughout the first half of last year.

Ransomware is growing in severity. The average ransom demand made to our policyholders in the first half of 2021 was $1.2 million. That is a large price to pay for any organization, and is a nearly 170% increase from the average demand in the first half of 2020. Smaller companies are increasingly targeted. As criminals are able to extort ever-growing amounts from organizations following ransomware attacks, and as attacks become increasingly automated, it has become more profitable for criminals to target more small and midsize organizations.

Dental offices continue to be targeted by criminals because they often are exposed to the public internet and have patient health information that make them targets. It’s more

important than ever that dental offices take the time to understand their cyber-risk!

Looking Ahead: Cybercrime in 2022 and Beyond

Ransomware will remain the single biggest threat for all dental offices.

Ransomware remains the most lucrative cybercriminal activity, and the widespread use of poorly secured remote access protocols and tools on the internet will continue to leave organizations open to ransomware attacks. As a result, we expect ransomware frequency to increase moderately.

The cyber insurance market will continue to harden throughout the year.

It will be harder to qualify for cyber insurance, and the implementation of many common cybersecurity controls will increasingly be required as a condition of coverage. Price increases, coinsurance and sublimits on critical coverages are already happening, and will continue throughout 2021.

Supply chain attacks will be more common.

Criminals will increase their targeting of software and service providers that other organizations rely upon. Supply chain attacks allow criminals to victimize a large number of organizations at once, rather than just one.

Most cyberattacks will continue to be

easily avoidable. Despite frequent claims by compromised companies that they’ve fallen victim to highly sophisticated attacks, most cyberattacks will remain anything but sophisticated. Basic controls to secure email, enable multi-factor authentication, and frequently patch software will remain the most effective controls for the foreseeable future.