Consumers of any solution expect the solution to function reliably as intended without any unanticipated consequences. The “reliability” and “avoidance of unanticipated consequence” aspects often become an afterthought especially when organizations embark on new innovations and start with a Minimal Viable Product (MVP). Once the basic functional requirements are accepted by consumers, these organizations are pressured to launch these solutions into the market. In digital solu

People often ask why someone would want to hack into a medical device. The first question, however, should be why Healthcare is the most hacked vertical of all. Experts say that it is easier to penetrate a healthcare organization because of the inherent complexity. But more importantly, the value of health records in the black market is very high. According to a recent article published on CNBC, a health record could fetch up to $1,000, which is almost 40 times the highest v

Good decision making is the hallmark of a great leader. A leader’s ability to make a high percentage of good decisions, in a timely fashion, is fundamental to the effectiveness of the individual and the success of his or her organization. In fact, Bain researchers found that decision effectiveness is 95% correlated with financial performance [Forbes, ‘17]. Yet, about half of business decisions end in failure, a study showed! Decision making in a highly cross-functional envi

Starting a week with the news that talk about patient data breach from a radiology interface is not comforting to many imaging centers or radiology departments. The total cost could easily get into millions of dollars considering tens of thousands of patient records at stake and average cost per breached record to be around $400. Clearly, cyber risk management is certainly not the one that imaging center or hospital leadership should take it lightly or delegate down in the or

Here is a paragraph from a recent article, “ Fears of hackers targeting US hospitals, medical devices for cyber-attacks ”: “The popular TV show “Homeland” included a scene where the president’s pacemaker was hacked, and [cybersecurity] researchers say that threat is very real . So much so, that former Vice President Dick Cheney revealed on CBS's "60 Minutes" in 2013 that he had the wireless capability on his pacemaker turned off. ” In today’s environment where hospitals fa

As patients, have we ever thought that issues with Healthcare IT systems like Electronics Health Record (EHR) and its components such as Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE), Electronic Medication Administration Record (e-MAR), Clinical Decision Support (CDS) system, etc. could lead to death, permanent loss of a bodily function or other serious injuries? A study commissioned by the Joint Commission revealed that, if not careful, these systems have indeed led to serious

The aftermath of WannaCry ransomware attacks have left many healthcare CIOs, CISOs and medical device manufacturers more concerned about device security than ever. The healthcare community, however, has been aware of potential cybersecurity related vulnerabilities and threats to their medical devices for sometime now. In fact, many publications, experiments and actual events have tried to surface these risks: In 2011 , a security expert hacked into an insulin pump at the Blac