Building a modernized and securely connected healthcare practice

Healthcare practices are seeking to reap the benefits of connected care, which includes increased patient satisfaction, staff productivity and the ability to deliver a higher quality of care. To do so, they will need the bandwidth, speed and flexibility to support the litany of devices, data and technologies now traversing their networks.

Better connectivity not only increases efficiency but allows clinicians to provide better care. The future of anticipatory and preventive care relies on the confluence of technology — the Internet of medical things (IoMT), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), predictive analytics, remote surgery and real-time sensors to better detect and treat individual patients' medical needs.

Greater connectivity and higher data speeds provide practices with the power to deliver remote care by using patient monitoring equipment and consoles that enable physicians to access electronic health records securely. It also empowers patients by giving them greater access to their data and the ability to connect with healthcare professionals in the format that's easiest and most convenient for them — via video, voice, text or in-person.

Without the proper security controls in place, all this connectivity and integration can cause headaches for IT staff. Healthcare data breaches are costly: The average cost of a healthcare data breach is $10.1M. As more applications are connected, and more data travels across the network, the security risks only increase as the attack surface enlarges.

Protecting your practice with increased network security

Healthcare practices are also held to high regulatory standards for safely sharing protected health information (PHI).  IoMT and connected devices create a growing target for cybercrime. In one recent study, 56% of respondents say their healthcare organizations experienced one or more cyberattacks in the past 24 months involving IoMT/IoT devices, with an average of 12.5 attacks over the same timeframe. As many as 45% report adverse impacts on patient care from these attacks.

Unsecured or poorly secured medical IoT devices can leave networks open to distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. A DDoS attack can cause significant disruption to your network in addition to impacting brand reputation. Ransomware, phishing attacks and insider threats are significant cybersecurity threats for healthcare organizations as well. Yet, many practices are unprepared to address them.

A fully managed solution, designed to monitor and secure your network, can reduce your IT department’s burden to safeguard your network while also ensuring high performance and visibility. A fully managed security service offers practices the ability to:

• Block suspicious activity and help secure your network connections.
• Receive automatic updates to security patches and software.
• Control employee access to Internet sites.
• Secure the data remote workers access by using VPN connections.
• Offload network support requirements to focus on more strategic initiatives.

To support a modern connected practice in a scalable and flexible manner, you need:

• Dedicated Fiber Internet (DFI): Provides the high-performance dedicated internet connection that you need for your modern connected practice. A dedicated high-speed fiber network is essential to support your practice’s productivity, efficiency and growth. 
• Ethernet Services: Allows your practices to quickly increase bandwidth to securely connect to your private network and share data, such as a patient's electronic health records (EHR), across interoperable facilities.
• Managed WiFi:  Delivers high-performing connectivity that everyone in your practice can count on.   
• Cloud Connect: Creates a secure, direct connection to key cloud service providers so you can better support emerging cloud-based technologies such as IoMT and AI.

A flexible, scalable network that supports connectivity can help achieve a practice's initiatives. Technology solutions should be designed to support unique requirements with a reliable partner that understands a practice’s concerns and can deliver a smart and efficient network with the appropriate strength, reach, reliability and security.

Better connectivity, less complexity

Modern practices need a managed networking platform that helps accomplish objectives without adding complexity. Practices also need advanced security and the flexibility to support hybrid networks and multi-cloud strategies. An all-inclusive platform, which includes security, SD-WAN and LAN switch options, can simplify your IT operations and make your network more secure, reliable and efficient, allowing your team to deliver an elevated digital experience at any scale.

Learn more about how Spectrum Enterprise Managed Network Edge can help simplify IT operations while offering greater connectivity.