5 Key Disorders Affecting Healthcare Data Security Infrastructure

While hospitals and healthcare systems have been one of the most popular targets of hackers and cybercriminals in recent years, that image is beginning to improve in many organizations.

Hospitals in general are getting better at protecting data. Many are updating their health information technology infrastructure and implementing stricter data security measures. These include encryption of all stored healthcare data, two-step verification for login, and employee security training programs.

But that road to recovery still eludes some healthcare systems.

To get a better idea of ​​how data is protected in healthcare, VentureBeat spoke with Victor Low, senior director of IT at Q-Centixa company specializing in healthcare data management.

Common Challenges Affecting Healthcare Data Infrastructure

Unfortunately, many hospitals and health centers suffer from symptoms of insufficient data infrastructure, staffing or strategy, Low said.

“These obstacles hinder the flow of data sharing, making it much more complex and complicated. As a result, most healthcare systems choose to lock down the data for protection, while overlooking the need for data integration and sharing,” he explains.

There are five common challenges that hospitals and healthcare systems face when managing their data and data infrastructure, Low said. They are:

1. The lack of skilled resources and role-based training

“This includes staff who are well trained in clinical data collection and management technology. Without these resources, data can be more susceptible to attack and subsequent misuse,” Low said. “Hospitals and health care systems can invest more in these areas to address these issues.”

2. Outdated Technology, Security and Documentation

“No MFA (multifactor authentication), SSO (single sign on), no encryption. Without advanced and modern security measures, data is more likely to be compromised in an attack,” says Low.

3. Complex (and confusing) technology architecture

Low pointed out that healthcare systems are particularly sensitive to silos and orphan systems. “Healthcare systems have gone through several mergers and consolidations in recent years. During integration, each healthcare system transfers its existing processes, technologies and personnel,” he explains.

“It takes an enormous amount of effort and resources to move from one system to another and in the meantime existing systems are maintained as a stopgap solution. Often these stopovers persist because of deprioritization or dependencies and over time they build on each other and are overlooked.”

4. Multiple supervisory and regulatory environment/partners involved

“Health systems have their own in-house security team and outsource some of the security assessment and/or security work to third parties for best practices. However, these can sometimes lead to miscommunication, overlap of responsibilities and long lead times,” notes Low.

One solution, he said, is “the formation of a single security and compliance committee, composed of key stakeholders from different areas who meet regularly to create a framework and roadmap. This would help to identify underlying risks and inefficiencies in the area of ​​security.” bring security and compliance to the fore and be a leading star for existing and new processes and technologies.”

5. It takes more than just an effort to solve the data security problems in healthcare

Repairing healthcare data security infrastructure requires a long-term investment in people and technology. “Summarizing the above points, any technology improvement/implementation would require multiple effort, time and resources for healthcare systems to recover, as well as being a low-margin business,” Low said.

He said that to streamline the process, “creating a technology implementation and lifecycle roadmap and framework” would be a good start.

Another good practice to enforce in a healthcare organization is to track and audit all suppliers, hold them to the same standards, and handle the entire business. Low explained that this would have a threefold effect, in that it would “significantly reduce the vetting and review process for the security and technology team, [take] take the guesswork out of the process for different suppliers and [reduce] above ground.”