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Hospitals globally face potentially costly and devastating risks to their patients and financial bottom line because of the vulnerabilities introduced when medical devices are connected to information technology (IT) networks, AAMI has claimed.
But these risks could be significantly mitigated through the application of thoughtful and comprehensive risk management practices, according to a new resource from AAMI―called Health IT Risk Management―that lays out the business case for the use of a series of standards known as 80001.
“Imagine having a plan in place that would help your staff know what to do under such alarming circumstances and help prevent such disruptions from happening in the first place,” the company said.
“Fortunately, a standard was developed by a distinguished committee of medical device manufacturers, IT experts, and others with a keen understanding of medical devices and IT systems—and how they must work together.”
The 80001 series of standards provides IT and healthcare technology management (HTM) professionals working in hospitals with detailed guidance on how to safely incorporate medical devices into IT networks, as well as a solid framework to manage the ever-changing risks associated with these networks.
“Whenever we present the standard to healthcare organizations, they say, ‘Yes, this is exactly what we need, this is exactly what we’ve been looking for,” said Todd Cooper, executive director at Breakthrough Solutions Foundry and co-chair of the committee that developed the standard.
AAMI, Health, Information technology, Cyber risks, Risk management, US
