most at risk, and how best to safeguard against future attacks

Cyberattacks Threaten U.S. Hospitals

Premier’s chief information security officer identifies the organizations most at risk, and how best to safeguard against future attacks

If you thought your news feed has been inundated with cyberattack stories in the last few months to a year,

you’re not wrong.

Ben Schwering, chief information security officer (CISO) for Premier Inc., says the United States has definitely seen an uptick in cyberattacks in an attempt to infiltrate or compromise healthcare organizations during the pandemic.

Threat actors are looking to take advantage of the overall state of unrest. Many healthcare organizations were stretched thin and operating under extreme circumstances, thus more susceptible to things like phishing attempts. “Threat actors were using the pandemic as an opportunity to say, ‘Hey, we have an entire industry that’s under duress, they may not be as vigilant as they would be under normal circumstances, let’s see if we can if we can take advantage of that,’” Schwering said.

The general state of urgency around all things related to COVID added to the vulnerability. “If you had a well-constructed phishing attempt, or well-constructed malicious website, just given the overall sense of urgency, and in some cases panic, it was more enticing and more likely that a person may click on one of those links.”

The supply chain was particularly vulnerable as teams scrambled to source product from alternate vendors.

Organizations involved in the research, logistics, and distribution of the COVID vaccine also faced increased attacks. “The threat actors know that if they can compromise you at any leg of that supply chain, that you’re going to be more apt to pay the ransom because you’re in a state of emergency dealing with the pandemic,” said Schwering. “And ultimately, that’s their goal.”

The attacks can cause many different types of disruptions, including patient care. For instance, some hospitals have had to turn away patients from emergency departments because their IT infrastructure was compromised and they couldn’t access health records. While those are extreme cases, hospitals could also be dealing with not being able to admit patients, schedule procedures, or reschedule surgeries because systems are down.

The best safeguards involve sticking to the basics of cybersecurity, Schwering said. “There are a lot of good frameworks out there,” he said. Having a strong Incident Response Program, knowing how you would react if an event occurred, is important. And if your organization was compromised, understanding what your processes and procedures are to get back up and running quickly is critical.

On a more tactical perspective, multi factor authentication, network segmentation, vulnerability management, strong malware protection, and strong email protection have been essential building blocks for IT. “The most successful organizations have layers of automation on top of those traditional protections,” Schwering said. For instance, if a malicious email gets through but is recognized, automated action can immediately isolate the infected machine that received the email. Having that layer of automation increases the speed in which you can respond to an incident. “And when it comes to incidents like ransomware, or malware, that speed, sometimes a few seconds, matters. Plus, you’re not relying on a human being there at 3 a.m. If you have those strong processes, procedures and automation in place to react, your chance of successfully fighting off an attack are greatly increased.”

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Creating an Unmatched Ecosystem

Medtronic delivers solutions to ASC customers and spurs growth through technology, efficiency and value

As hospitals experienced the surge of COVID-19 patients during the height of the pandemic, business volumes

for ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) swelled. Outpatient procedures were pushed to ASCs, which face unique clinical, operational and financial challenges. But medtech companies like Medtronic helped navigate these obstacles.

“We delivered innovative solutions to our ASC customers during the onset of COVID-19,” said Bob Cannon, Medtronic Vice President, ASC Channel Management and Sales, U.S. Market. “We proactively offered flexible business models to help offset the challenges ASCs faced throughout 2020.”

ASCs are often limited on capital reserves to meet obligations or make the necessary investments to keep pace with the latest technologies. Purchasing capital equipment such as robotics, operating room beds, surgical lights, scrub sinks and C-Arms can be challenging due to cash outlay, financing requirements and credit terms.

Plus, reimbursements for procedures can be significantly less in ASCs when compared to the hospital setting for many procedures, and price sensitivity can be heightened due to this economic reality. ASCs also have far less storage capacity for products utilized during their day-to-day operations.

“It’s common that purchase practices are done the day before a procedure or the vendor is asked to carry in product the day of a procedure,” Cannon said. “By partnering with Medtronic and leveraging purchasing scale across the entire portfolio, ASCs can unlock unmatched technology, service, efficiency and value, and focus on quality, patient outcomes and profitability that enables growth.”

This year, ASCs are returning to a more normal course of business and Medtronic is committed to being the partner of choice for ASCs across the nation. ASCs have an important role to play in expanding access to affordable, efficient and high-quality patient care.

“ASCs offer patients a site of service that promotes quality, efficiency and value,” Cannon said. “Partnering with Medtronic offers ASCs the ability to improve quality with our technologies, drive efficiency through our broad portfolio and have a ‘one-stop shop’ to meet supply chain goals at a lower cost by concentrating volume with a single source partner.”

Medtronic plays big and small in the ASC market through its broad portfolio and can meet the various needs of large national and regional chain ASCs, while also being nimble enough to support the local, physicianowned ASCs in high volume markets. Its ASC team is deployed top down through an enterprise team focused on select large national and regional chain ASCs. Medtronic also has field teams within certain businesses that are focused on specific product strategies for local target markets with a concentration of ASCs with high procedural volume. “We have long-standing partnerships with the distribution sales channel, and we work closely with distributors in many of our therapies,” said Christopher Stelter, Medtronic Senior Director of Distribution, U.S. Market. “Our distributors also have long-standing relationships with our mutual customers, including those in the ASC market. There are

“There are efficiencies to be gained by all parties by using the capabilities of our distributor partners.”

– Christopher Stelter, Medtronic Senior Director of Distribution, U.S. Market

efficiencies to be gained by all parties by using the capabilities of our distributor partners.”

Stelter explained that in many cases, the distribution channel is utilized as the most effective choice for distributing their therapies to their ASC customers. “One of the many benefits of working with distribution is that customers can often receive product either the same day or next day when ordering through a distributor,” Stelter said. “Distributors also carry a buffer of inventory to help ensure high fill rates and smooth any potential product flow disruptions that can be created by natural disasters like flooding, fires or pandemics.”

Supply chain resilience and business continuity are always top priorities and Medtronic has hosted panels with its customers focused on those and on its technology, service and business model. For example, in the neuroscience specialties, Medtronic recently held a Key Opinion Leader (KOL) Advisory Panel with physician equity owners in the pain and spine specialties.

“The feedback was candid, clear and helpful in understanding our strengths and areas of opportunity to better address ASC needs,” Cannon said. “We are working to reinforce our areas of strength, while always seeking ways to improve.”

Medtronic is also developing new and novel patient education and access programs to go alongside ASC market development programs to support growth.

“ASCs flourish when quality, efficiency and value intersect with patient awareness and access,” Cannon said. “We believe we can combine efforts with our ASC partners and create an unmatched ecosystem where all the elements for a successful ASC meet.”