The increasing challenges medical institutions face in ensuring connectivity
Healthcare institutions today face challenges on a number of different levels in ensuring seamless connectivity of services and devices. They are also required to tackle complexities around interoperability, security, compliance, budget restraints and business continuity. And, given that many healthcare institutions across Europe are publicly funded, organisations are balancing these challenges on limited budgets and legacy infrastructure. Here Béatrice Duleba, Strategic vertical healthcare director at Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise explores these hurdles in more detail.
An escalating volume of technologies and devices
Hospitals and healthcare institutions use an array of diverse medical equipment, applications and software, from pagers and nurse call systems to insulin pumps and cardiac monitoring tools. They use multiple software platforms for tasks, including data collection, electronic patient records, or administration from a range of different vendors. Each piece of equipment and software platform has its own unique interface, thus requiring flexibility and quick adaptation from the staff. In addition, the lack of integration between these platforms is adversely impacting upon the fluidity in the care process in many cases. This challenge is further compounded when data needs to be shared not just within the hospital but with the wider healthcare ecosystem; with external parties such as pharmacies, laboratories, and nursing homes.
Furthermore, the adoption of IoT devices in healthcare is growing significantly. According to Fortune Business Insights, the global Internet of Things (IoT) in the Healthcare Market was valued at USD 139.74 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow from USD 175.61 billion in 2024 to USD 822.54 billion by 2032, equating to an impressive CAGR of 21.3%.
IoT helps gather data and connects devices and operating machinery to allow data transfer and storage using the internet. While the benefits of IoT are numerous, it presents network managers with a further interoperability challenge in terms of onboarding IoT devices and integrating them with other platforms and applications.
Keeping healthcare records secure and systems up and running
With so many electronic devices and applications in use, and with ‘rich’ medical data a key target for cyber criminals, security is a constant concern and a major challenge for healthcare providers. A data leak or a network outage is highly disruptive for a hospital, impacting patients directly and incurring weeks, if not months, to recover from. According to research from Check Point Research (CPR) for January to September 2024, the global weekly average number of attacks per organization in the healthcare industry reached 2,018, marking a staggering 32 percent increase compared to the same period the previous year.
Security and having robust business continuity plans in place are therefore key priorities. However, all too often medical institutions lack the expertise (in part due to the wider shortage of security specialists) to deal with the complexities that securing the network and its multiple devices and applications entails.
Complying with regulations
Today, healthcare providers must comply with several industry regulations to ensure that the data they generate, store, and share is entirely secure. These include the HDS certification in France or the European MDR regulations that govern the production and distribution of medical devices in Europe. More recently, the EU introduced the NIS 2 cyber security directive, which all critical entities, including healthcare providers, must comply with. While all these regulations serve to fortify the security measures in place, they also present challenges for the IT department in ensuring that the right solutions -and the correct procedures – are in place across the organization.
Improving patient care through innovative technologies
Whilst ensuring existing technologies are continually up and running and secure, healthcare IT teams are also working on integrating new technologies and applications to improve medical care. AI is primed to play an important role in helping organizations be more time and resource efficient. For instance, ALE is already using AI in its network management solution to monitor network activity and alert IT teams to potential issues such as reduced capacity or a potential cyberattack while also offering a remediation solution.
More specifically, healthcare institutions are also looking to bring in innovative applications to help hospitals run more efficiently and which seek to alleviate the resource shortage present today in the sector. For example, voice-controlled patient requests could complement nurse call systems to differentiate requests for medical attention (to be directed to the nurse) from requests requiring technical assistance or catering services.
Beyond purely sourcing communications and connectivity solutions, our healthcare customers are seeking tailored solutions that respond to their individual needs and challenges, and which integrate within their existing infrastructure and applications, enabling them to improve their operations and efficiency without creating further technical complexities.
About Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise
Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise provides secure networking and communication solutions which enable organizations and industries to accelerate their operational efficiencies and competitiveness. In the Cloud. On Premises. Hybrid.
All solutions have built-in security, limited environmental impact and are fully compliant with data protection requirements of organizations and individuals at a national sovereignty and international industry level.
Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise focus on providing sustainable technology solutions for the good of the environment, people, and business.
Over 100 years of innovation have made the company a trusted advisor to more than a million customers across the world. With headquarters in France and 3,400 business partners worldwide, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise achieves an effective global reach with a local focus.
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