Healthcare institutions must ramp up cybersecurity measures to boost patients’ acceptance of RPM devices, says GlobalData

The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted a rapid increase in the integration and development of new technologies in the medical industry such as remote patient monitoring (RPM) devices.

In fact, a survey by leading data and analytics company GlobalData notes that 66% of respondents stated they are more likely to use this technology since the pandemic. However, cyber and ransomware attacks are an ever-pressing concern and, if not addressed promptly, will act as a serious set back to adoption.

Kamilla Kan, Medical Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, comments: “GlobalData’s survey highlights that a significant number of healthcare professionals (17%) have concerns over data privacy, and these institutions must quickly ramp up their cybersecurity to avoid financial and clinical losses. Further, improving cybersecurity and the ways data are collected and handled will provide an increase in acceptance rates among patients and medical professionals.

“While efforts such as the ‘Zero Trust’ principles proposed by Becton, Dickinson and Company have helped provide better protection for patient data, the amount of cyberattacks and ransomware hacks healthcare organizations experience increases every month. With healthcare organizations containing valuable patient’s data information and having obsolete protection against cyberattacks, hackers will continue to target healthcare institutions unless they significantly improve their cybersecurity.”