Medical devices have been entering hospitals at light speed, which brings up the question of cybersecurity and how providers can maintain safe treatment. Vidya Murthy explores how regulatory actions have impacted medical device cybersecurity and, in turn, patient safety.
The health care industry is a complex web of payers, providers, medical device manufacturers, third-party vendors and, most importantly, patients. Over the last decade, technology has played a central role in advancing quality of care, creating new delivery mediums and changing access for patients, in large part due to the development of new medical devices. The less discussed shift has been viewing cybersecurity as a HIPAA compliance mitigation instead of a patient safety enabler.
Location of Care Delivery
The average hospital bed has 10 to 15 devices connected to it. The American Hospital Association estimates there are about 900,000 hospital beds in 2019, which means there are at least 9,000,000 devices inside U.S. hospitals.
Shifting care beyond health care delivery organizations (HDOs) has increased the ability to treat remote geographies and populations that otherwise couldn’t access an HDO on an ongoing basis. These changes have been great for patients and providers, enabling ongoing monitoring of patients even when they’re not in…
