CHIME 17 Event Preview: Understanding Your Patients’ Cybersecurity Concerns

Healthcare and IT are becoming increasingly intertwined as technology enables patient-centric care, more efficient hospital workflows, and greater visibility into effective treatment plans through data analytics. Moreover, as digital transformation initiatives take effect across industries, increased technical capabilities will be necessary to remain competitive.

This exciting technical innovation in the healthcare space coincides with a higher volume of health-focused cyberattacks and a cybersecurity skills gap that has made it difficult to find IT professionals who can keep up with the pace of technology adoption. That is why events such as the CHIME CIO Forum are so necessary to facilitate collaboration and innovation between healthcare IT professionals through face-to-face discussion.

CHIME 17 Fall CIO Forum

The CHIME 17 Fall CIO Forum will be held from October 31st – November 3rd at the JW Marriott in San Antonio, Texas. During this event, healthcare CIOs and IT professionals from health networks around the world will be present to discuss the future of healthcare IT and the best way to meet any challenges that could jeopardize technical innovations. Topics of conversation will include patient identification, cybersecurity, data analytics, clinical workflows, public policy, and the cutting-edge innovation transforming healthcare.

Fortinet is excited to be a sponsor of CHIME 17 to meet and engage with the IT leaders on the frontlines of adopting and securing the new healthcare technology that provides patients with the best possible experiences. During the event, we will be hosting a 90-minute CIO focus group (Thursday, November 11th from 1:30 – 3:00 pm) that examines how patients perceive cyber healthcare threats, and how CIOs and IT professionals can respond to address and assuage these concerns.

The Cybersecurity Concerns of Your Patients

With cyberattacks in the healthcare sector regularly making headlines this past year, healthcare IT professionals are keenly aware of the need for defense mechanisms that protect personal health information (PHI) from cyberattacks such as malware, ransomware, DDoS, and more. However, from a consumer perspective, as patients hear about compromised health information in cyberattacks, there is often less understanding of how these attacks occur and how vulnerable their own personal information is.

By understanding how patients perceive the cyber risks to their personal health information and the concerns they have about cybersecurity, IT professionals can ensure they address these fears within their cybersecurity protocol to protect valuable data and improve the patient experience.

Fortinet has spent considerable time researching and discussing cyber healthcare threats with patients to understand what they are hearing about healthcare cybersecurity and what their greatest fears are for the security of their personal health information. During our focus group session titled, “Breaking Patient Confidence: Who’s the One That is Really Knocking,” we will zero in on the most common consumer concerns we have heard surrounding healthcare cyber threats. Examples of these include:

• Cyber healthcare crime markets
• The Darknet
• Stolen identities
• Health record blackmail

The goal of this focus group is to inform healthcare IT professionals of patient concerns to encourage collaboration and discussion of best practices, protocols, and cybersecurity tactics that address each of them.

Final Thoughts

New technical innovations in the healthcare space are empowering healthcare providers and patients, improving outcomes and experiences with faster, more customized care. Moving forward, health IT trends such as cloud, IoT, and artificial intelligence have the power to transform medicine.

However, to take full advantage of the functionality offered by this technology, patients have to trust that the use of such technology does not make their PHI vulnerable to cyberattacks that might expose them to identity theft, fraud, and more. Understanding the cybersecurity concerns of patients can help IT teams know where to increase security to provide patients with peace of mind with tech-enabled care.

Fortinet at CHIME 17

What: Breaking Patient Confidence: Who’s the One That is Really Knocking
When: Thursday, November 11th
Time: 1:30 – 3:00 pm