FUTURE OF HEALTHCARE,MEDICAL DEVICES
Capterra | November 30, 2022
The rising adoption of connected medical devices is accelerating cyberattacks, according to Capterra’s new Medical IoT Survey of healthcare IT professionals. The survey also reveals that 67% of healthcare cyberattacks impact patient data and nearly half impact patient care, an indication that rising security risks in the industry are leading to severe consequences in patient outcomes and privacy.
The medical internet of things is helping to make healthcare more convenient, efficient, and patient-centric. However, connected devices with IoT sensors often have unprotected security vulnerabilities that endanger healthcare facilities, and even patients. In fact, medical practices with more than 70% of their devices connected are 24% more likely to experience a cyberattack than practices with 50% or fewer connected devices.
“As a healthcare organization connects more medical devices to its network, its attack surface expands. Connected medical devices often go unmonitored for security vulnerabilities, and because they run on a wide array of software and hardware platforms, it’s difficult to monitor with a single tool. This means that many connected medical devices are left wide open to cyberattacks.”
Zach Capers, senior security analyst at Capterra
More than half of healthcare IT staff rate the cybersecurity threat level in the industry as high or extreme, yet many healthcare organizations are not taking the necessary steps to protect medical IoT devices. Alarmingly, 57% do not always change the default username and password for each new connected medical device that is put into use. Additionally, 82% run connected medical devices on old Windows systems.
If a security vulnerability is discovered, organizations should patch the device or update its firmware as soon as possible. Unfortunately, 68% of healthcare organizations don’t always update connected devices when a patch is available. However, vulnerabilities and associated patches aren’t always well publicized, which means healthcare IT staff must stay up-to-date on emerging threats to medical IoT devices.
Medical IoT security requires proactive and ongoing vigilance. Healthcare practices should conduct routine vulnerability assessments before connecting medical devices to their IT network. They should also keep an up-to-date and accurate inventory of all connected devices plus associated software and firmware, and use software to monitor these devices.
Read the full report on Capterra.com to learn more about best practices for healthcare organizations to strengthen security for their medical IoT devices.
About Capterra
Capterra is the leading software reviews and selection platform that connects businesses to the right technology. Compare software, read and leave reviews, and access objective insights that empower business growth.
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FUTURE OF HEALTHCARE, DIGITAL HEALTHCARE
BioNJ | December 07, 2022
BioNJ, New Jersey's life sciences trade association, hosted an Inaugural Health Equity in Clinical Trials MBA Business Plan Case Competition on Saturday, December 3, at Rutgers Business School. BioNJ's Business Plan Case Competition, which is part of a broader BioNJ strategic initiative of Health Equity in Clinical Trials, was designed to promote the next generation of diverse clinical trial innovators and identify innovative approaches and successful models that can be used nationally to strengthen diversity in clinical trials and expand health equity.
BioNJ believes that health equity in clinical trials is critical to deepening the understanding of the safety and efficacy of medicines in under-represented populations, expanding access to medical innovation for these populations and increasing dialogue and trust among the biopharma industry, communities and healthcare systems. By discovering new approaches, utilizing new technologies and developing new business standards to make trials more accessible, we can work to create more agile, efficient and Patient-centered medical research.
Eight teams, competing for more than $20,000 in prize money, were tasked with developing a business plan defining a new solution, application or technology to help address this important and challenging problem. Teams identified one particular type of health disparity on which to frame their proposed solutions and connected with community-based organizations to better understand the real-world barriers that exist for their chosen populations to engage in clinical trials. The disease areas on which the respective teams focused included Alzheimer's, heart failure, multiple sclerosis, diabetes type 1 and type 2, colorectal and cervical cancers, and oncology.
"There is an urgent need to bring more diversity to clinical trials in order to better serve Patients and their communities…thereby helping to address health inequities. Only by improving diversity in clinical trials will we be able to deepen our understanding of the safety and efficacy of medicines for all populations. I am extremely proud of our teams. Each of the business plans offered a unique out-of-the-box solution – helping advance our ambition to have no Patient left behind."
Amadou Diarra, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Global Policy, Advocacy & Government Affairs for Bristol Myers Squibb; BioNJ Board Member and Chair of the BioNJ Health Equity in Clinical Trials Initiative
Live pitch presentations were made throughout the day to a Panel of Judges comprised of industry experts
Naikia Atkinson, Director, U.S. Clinical Trials Diversity and Inclusion, Sanofi
Schylr Greggs, Director, Technology Operations, Medidata
Sharon Hanlon, Head, Clinical Trial Engagement & Enrollment, Bristol Myers Squibb
Maribel Hernandez, Vice President, Clinical Operations & Special Projects, PTC Therapeutics
Jack Rosenberg, Manager, Investments and Business Development, TrialSpark
Del Smith, Co-Founder & CEO, Acclinate
Lolita Smith, Program Manager, Rare Disease Diversity Coalition, Black Women's Health Imperative
Matt Walz, CEO, TrialBee
"Although ultimately three winning teams were presented with cash prizes, each team has made a difference for Patients by offering new solutions and technologies to better serve Patients, build community trust and address gaps in health care delivery," said Paul Howard, Ph.D., BioNJ Business Case Competition Steering Committee Chair and Senior Director, Public Policy for Amicus Therapeutics. "This is just the start as we work to share these proposals more broadly."
A white paper with all of the presentations will be published in April and rolled out during BioNJ's acclaimed BioPartnering Conference – which brings together more than 500 industry professionals from around the globe. The three winning teams will present their plans during the April 18 BioPartnering Conference and all of the students are invited to attend to meet the community.
About BioNJ
BioNJ is the life sciences trade association for New Jersey, representing close to 400 research-based life sciences organizations and stakeholders across the healthcare ecosystem from the largest biopharmaceutical companies to early stage start-ups for nearly 30 years. Because Patients Can't Wait®, BioNJ is dedicated to ensuring a vibrant ecosystem where Science is Supported, Companies are Created, Drugs are Developed and Patients Have Access to Lifesaving Medicines.
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MEDICAL DEVICES
Florence Healthcare | November 18, 2022
Florence Healthcare™, a clinical research technology company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, announced the completion of a year-long third-party study on the impact of Site Enablement Platforms™ on clinical research timelines and costs.
The study by Marketcap Consulting is the first to compare how traditional site management approaches differ from site-first Site Enablement Platforms. The study looked at the impact of traditional sponsor portals and new Site Enablement Platforms on research sponsor and Contract Research Organization study timelines and budgets.
“Pharma sponsors and CROs realize the importance of enabling sites to do their best work - but only recently have they discovered that traditional site portals are more hindrance than help. Yet, these organizations weren't able to measure the true impact of switching to a Site Enablement Platform. This year-long study aimed to fix that and highlight how linking fragmented workflows accelerates the full lifecycle of clinical trials.”
Ryan Jones, CEO of Florence Healthcare
Site enablement is a new technology category that prioritizes the needs of the site, a major shift from past technology that only looked at the experience of the sponsor. These platforms, including Florence Healthcare’s SiteLink™, insist on ease-of-use and ease-of-setup for the site, quality support, and simplified integrations. SiteLink works in conjunction with eBinders™, an electronic Investigator Site File solution used by over 12,000 research sites in 45 countries.
About the Study
Marketcap Consulting conducted interviews with clinical research operations leaders harnessing SiteLink, examined timelines and study costs, and analyzed the impact across the sites in the study. On average, the team found that SiteLink accelerated study start-up by four weeks and study close-out by two weeks at every site. For a 50-site study, this six-week acceleration reduced cash burn by one million dollars.
“We can see a clear positive impact on study timelines and cash burn when research sponsors and CROs implement Site Enablement Platforms,” said Joel White, founder of Marketcap Consulting. “This early study reveals that by enabling sites to do their best work, the clinical research industry unlocks value across the full research cycle.”
“While the financial impact of switching to SiteLink makes investing in site enablement an easy choice for sponsors and CROs, it’s really the acceleration of studies that gets our team at Florence Healthcare excited,” said Jones. “We aim to double the output of research teams by the end of the decade, and enabling sites is the way to do it.”
About Florence Healthcare
Florence Healthcare’s clinical trial software helps more than 12,000 research sites in 45 countries manage their documents, data, and workflows. The Florence Healthcare™ platform also provides remote access so sponsors and Contract Research Organizations can collaborate with their sites around the world. Florence Healthcare users now perform 5.8 million remote monitoring activities each month.
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FUTURE OF HEALTHCARE
Tebra | November 22, 2022
Tebra, a leader in practice growth technology and cloud-based clinical and financial software, announced that its Chief Technology Officer Kyle Ryan was named in the Healthcare Technology Report’s list of Top 25 Healthcare Technology CTOs of 2022. The annual list recognizes the most accomplished executives in healthcare technology who are leading teams in delivering cutting edge products that boost operations and improve efficiency for their customers.
The CTOs on this year’s list have a wide range of impressive backgrounds, but each is the driving force behind their company’s technology innovations, ensuring software functionality and effectiveness. Read the full report here.
“Kyle has been an integral part of the executive leadership team at Tebra and has built a strong partnership between product management and the technology team within the organization. He has vast knowledge about healthcare IT and how it applies to solving business problems and is keenly customer focused and is always taking time to understand customer needs at a deeper level. Kyle’s an outstanding ambassador for the company and prides himself on developing a healthy and high-performance culture.”
Dan Rodrigues, CEO of Tebra
Kyle is responsible for all areas of technology with a focus on the vision and strategy for Tebra’s suite of products and services. He believes that great products are created through a keen customer focus, groundbreaking ideas, precise engineering, and efficient execution.
“I am honored to be included in this list of prestigious technology leaders,” Kyle said. “This recognition also highlights the technology team’s passion for improving healthcare and the company’s mission of providing independent practices with digital tools and support to thrive in a new era of healthcare.”
About Tebra
In 2021, with a combined mission to unlock better healthcare, Kareo and PatientPop joined forces to form Tebra — the operating system for the connected practice of the future. With an all-in-one, purpose-built platform to drive practice success and modernize every step of the patient journey, Tebra provides digital tools and support to attract new patients, deliver modern care, get paid quickly, and operate efficiently.
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