Improvements that need to be made within the health care sector to better protect information

Hospital leadership must evaluate and document current facility information environments to increase awareness. Organizations should create a risk-based decision-making approach, as well as establish more stringent control policies related to provider and employee information access.


Keys to mitigating risk include adopting an attitude of awareness, coupled with a proactive approach that consists of an internal assessment and a strategy based on stakeholder consensus, including taking steps to shore up infrastructure weaknesses, implement internal policies and incorporate a training plan across the organization that promotes buy-in.

Furthermore, vendors and facilities should strive to develop collaborative partnerships. It takes multiple teams, working together, to contain something as evolutionary and complex as cyber-security.

An interesting tactic many hospitals and equipment manufacturers are exploring is engagement with professional “hacker consultant groups.” These groups include individuals, some of whom are former hackers, providing expertise from the perspective of someone looking to infiltrate and attack a hospital’s security system. This is a valuable resource that can shed light on areas of vulnerability that are often overlooked.


Roman Franklin joined MD Buyline in 2016 with more than seven years in health care information technology, capital equipment sourcing, equipment planning, and health care consulting. Prior to MD Buyline, Mr. Franklin worked as a sourcing executive for Novation, and operations manager for a Premier Healthcare subsidiary. He also spent several years as a capital analyst, during which time he assisted hospitals and health care facilities with budgeting, service contract analysis, price negotiation and asset management.

Mitali Maheshwari joined MD Buyline in 2016 with a background in health care information technology. Prior to coming to MD Buyline, she was an Epic Analyst at OCHIN Inc., and an international regulatory affairs associate for Claris Lifesciences Ltd. At MD Buyline, Ms. Maheshwari has responsibility for several technologies, including Electronic Health Records.

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