Tag Archives: Cybersecurity

Healthcare providers are suffering from data breaches at an alarming rate. While these attacks can have serious financial impact on health organizations, the effects on patient lives can be devastating.

Against the backdrop of a global health crisis, news that the U.S. federal government published its Final Rule on Interoperability likely went unnoticed to many delivery system leaders outside of healthcare IT. However, the federal mandate marks a very important milestone in U.S. patient health: mandating secure access, exchange, and use of electronic health information.

From a technology perspective, the evolution of COVID-19 has turned out to be a sort of proving ground for the concepts discussed in those January focus groups. Rather than being pushed to the back burner, efforts to achieve connected care through data optimization are ever more critical.

The levels of technological sophistication run the gamut in the healthcare industry, and in a pre-COVID-19 world, providers set their own pace. Today, we’re seeing a massive acceleration in technology adoption that’s brought about a significant change in the way healthcare is delivered. As caregivers on the front lines race to provide clinical care, health IT professionals rush behind the scenes to provide the digital tools necessary for secure healthcare provision in a changed environment.

Healthcare is already lagging behind other industries when it comes to cybersecurity strategy, therefore, shutdowns can result in a debilitating precipice, halting operations, preventing critical access to medical records for emergency treatment and can cause loMT devices to be severely compromised.