5 Technology Challenges in Healthcare
Business continuity and resilience ultimately rely on technology, so it’s no surprise that it also exposes healthcare organizations to numerous risks.
Technology plays a critical role in healthcare, from ensuring efficient patient care and employee safety to securely managing data and meeting compliance. Business continuity and resilience ultimately rely on technology, so it’s no surprise that it also exposes organizations to numerous risks. In this article, we’ll cover five common technological challenges experienced in healthcare and our recommendations to minimize them, while achieving the highest standards of safety and performance.
1. Lack of Cross-Functionality
What’s Happening – Healthcare organizations use many different systems for health records, scheduling, billing, patient portals, vendor/visitor management, access control, video surveillance, etc. (to name a few!). The problem? These systems are most often not interoperable and do not communicate well with each other.
The Pain – The gap between disparate interfaces can lead to workflow inefficiencies, errors, wasted time, and user frustration. Additionally, when information lives in silos, it can be difficult to gather comprehensive views or actionable insights for things like patient data or steps taken during an emergency. For example, Security often has many different methods for receiving an alert (workstation alarm, phone call, etc.), each requiring its own response procedure. This can be inefficient and distracting in a moment when every second matters. Furthermore, disparate audit trails of these actions make it harder to discern what happened and implement future improvements.
Our Recommendation – Consider options to consolidate systems and centralize data as much as possible. By using open-source technology and fully leveraging available integrations, you can improve data flow and transparency between systems and streamline procedures. Specific to security, we encourage organizations to review every process and protocol to determine where technology could be aligned. Imagine in the event of a breach, your security team could acknowledge the alert, lockdown the impacted area, sound a local alarm, push notifications to management, activate the emergency paging system, and contact law enforcement IN A COUPLE OF CLICKS. Push for solutions and integrations that solve not just one problem, but as many as possible. In doing so, you can prevent or reduce the impact of incidents, give teams precious time back, and improve response and training.
Need ways to free up your team so they can focus on core responsibilities? Get in touch.
2. Cyber Security Threats
What’s Happening – Healthcare organizations store vast amounts of sensitive information that is extremely valuable to cybercriminals, making them one of the most targeted industries for cyberattacks like phishing and ransomware. According to this article from the HIPAA Journal, “Healthcare cybersecurity incidents continue to skyrocket, with millions of patient records exposed each month. In the first half of 2024 alone, healthcare breaches listed on the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights online breach portal affected 45 million patients – and that just accounts for large-scale breaches where a single incident affected 500 or more patients.”
The Pain – Because healthcare organizations often have outdated systems that are different across departments, ensuring robust cybersecurity measures is difficult and resource intensive. But if they suffer a breach; the implications are significant:
Downtime: Any downtime, whether from a ransomware attack or another security breach, can jeopardize patient safety.
Heavy Fines: Non-compliance can result in significant financial penalties.
Litigation: Breaches can lead to lawsuits from affected patients.
Reputational Damage: A data breach can result in a loss of trust from patients and stakeholders.
Our Recommendation – Vet the configuration of your IoT devices against current cyber hardening standards, then prioritize any vulnerabilities to mitigate the risk wherever possible. Always stay on top of hardware, firmware, and software updates. But don’t stop there. Conduct regular system audits to identify new vulnerabilities BEFORE they become a risk. Be proactive in resolving them to keep systems protected from the next emerging threat.
Is your security software outdated? Not sure how your IoT devices stand up to current cyber hardening standards?
3. System Downtime and Reliability
What’s Happening – Critical systems like electronic health records, patient monitoring, imaging equipment, video, access control, and emergency communication must be available 24/7, but many organizations struggle with implementing reliable backups and redundancies. This might be due to the complexity of the environment and data management, limited IT resources, budget constraints, or regulatory compliance overload that often overshadows backup implementation.
The Pain – Technical failures can impact patient care, reduce operational efficiency, expose organizations to breaches and data loss, and bring revenue generation to a halt. Just imagine having to revert to manual, paper-based systems for managing patient care, records, and test results. This can result in critical errors, delayed treatments, financial loss, and a tarnished reputation.
Our Recommendation – Regularly auditing systems for functionality and vulnerabilities, along with backing up critical data are key in improving reliability. Furthermore, implementing solutions that use current technology will often give you built-in health monitoring that will flag issues before components fail. But most importantly, ensuring your organization has appropriate resources allocated to backup procedures and redundancy systems is a must so you can:
Build redundancy into network infrastructure and critical systems.
Implement a data backup and testing strategy.
Develop and test a disaster recovery (DR) plan.
4. Outdated Technology
What’s Happening – Many healthcare organizations still rely on outdated technologies that pose a risk to safety, security, and organizational efficiency. Unfortunately, many new technologies come with high upfront costs and effort, not only for purchasing but implementation and training. For these reasons, technology upgrades are often deprioritized.
The Pain – A common example of the risks associated with outdated technology is the 125 kHz card access vulnerability. This unsecure technology can be easily and affordably compromised by cloning, but so many organizations still use it due to the time, effort, and cost required to migrate away from it.
Curious about this vulnerability and the migration paths available? Learn more here.
Another example experienced in Security Operations Centers is extreme alarm fatigue due to thousands of false alarms, most of which are generated by faulty security devices. This creates a major barrier to proactive monitoring, incident response, and compliance management.
Our Recommendation – Technology upgrades aren’t fun – we get it. But there are ways to minimize the pain. If you plan and prioritize, you can tackle changes in ways that align with operations and budget. You can prevent future overhauls and protect your investment long-term by choosing open-source solutions that can scale as your organization grows, needs change, or threats evolve. And don't forget, newer technology means advanced features that can improve overall safety and efficiency, saving money in other areas. So, we believe the first step to ensuring a stable infrastructure that can be trusted and enhanced is a full system audit to:
Identify the issues
Assess the impact
Recognize the opportunities
From there, it’s easier to apply simple or immediate fixes first, then prioritize remaining deficiencies by risk, effort, and cost.
Could your organization benefit from an assessment or strategic/budget planning?
5. Product & Vendor Lock-In
What’s Happening – When choosing security solutions or a security vendor, it’s not uncommon for healthcare organizations to commit without first understanding if the equipment is open source or proprietary. If solutions use proprietary equipment, organizations get locked into not only the product, but the vendor.
The Pain – Healthcare facilities can run into customization limitations with proprietary equipment, leading to unmet operational needs and suboptimal workflows. For example, if a hospital wants to implement a new telemedicine feature into its EHR that could save staff time, it could be constrained by the vendor’s development schedule or forced to wait for an official update that may never come. Integrating proprietary equipment with other products to solve new problems can also be difficult, or impossible. Consider a proprietary video management system that is running low on storage due to new locations being added over the last few years. The organization may find that the cost of expanding storage is significantly higher than if they were using a scalable solution with more options to align with their specific needs. Another challenge is that dependence on a single vendor makes serviceability of systems hard. What if the vendor isn’t meeting your support and response expectations? What if they can’t keep enough qualified technicians to repair and maintain your system? And switching to a different system entirely is extremely costly and time-consuming due to data migration challenges.
Our Recommendation – In a world of constant change, ensuring your security has optimal support and is prepared for the future is crucial. Choosing scalable solutions with open-source technology offers flexibility and efficiency, allows seamless changes and growth, centralizes data, and saves money. If you’re considering a new security partner and you’re not sure if their solution is proprietary…ASK!
As healthcare organizations continue to rely more heavily on technology, the need for secure, efficient, and interoperable systems is greater than ever.
By addressing these key pain points, SecurAlarm helps healthcare providers deliver better care while keeping teams safe. Whether it's through strategic planning, open-source solutions, or proactive maintenance, we stand ready to help you navigate the complexities of healthcare technology with confidence. Let us be your partner in building a secure, reliable, and forward-thinking healthcare environment.