Importance of Identity and Access Management for Healthcare 

‍This article will explore how identity and access management solutions are crucial for securing patient information and enhancing operational efficiency within healthcare organizations.

In the healthcare industry, where patient data is both sensitive and mission-critical, maintaining robust security measures is paramount. This is where identity and access management (IAM) steps in as a cornerstone of modern healthcare infrastructure. This provides a secure framework for managing digital identities, controlling access to systems and data, and ensuring compliance with stringent regulatory requirements.

With the increasing prevalence of cyber threats targeting healthcare data, IAM acts as the first line of defense, preventing systems against potential breaches and data breaches.

At its core, IAM serves as the gatekeeper, regulating who can access what within an organization's digital ecosystem. For healthcare institutions, this means safeguarding patient records, medical histories, and sensitive personal information from unauthorized access or malicious intent. 

However, there is a lot more to explore. So let's first start with the challenges currently faced by the healthcare industry.

5 Current Security Challenges In The Healthcare Sector

In the given below section, we’ll be discussing in detail about current security challenges encountered by the healthcare industry.

• The Growing Attack Surface: Areas That Are Vulnerable To Risk 

In today's healthcare landscape, the transition from hard paper to electronic health records (EHRs) has been a game-changing solution for patient care. This transition has brought about a remarkable improvement in the quality and reliability of medical history management.

However, this digital transformation has introduced new challenges, particularly in safeguarding sensitive patient data. This concern occurred when there was a drastic hike in the number of healthcare service providers, which increased the potential attack surface for cyber threats.

As a result, the need for data technology and cybersecurity has become more critical. Furthermore, governments worldwide are trying to digitize health records for data safety but are not investing in appropriate cybersecurity solutions.

To bridge this gap and protect healthcare systems against potential breaches, you, as an IT manager, need to opt for an effective solution. Because securing patient data is not just a matter of compliance; it's a fundamental responsibility to ensure the trust and well-being of those we serve.

• Patient's Lack of Adequate Knowledge

Usually, patients lack sufficient awareness of the potential data security risks associated with their Electronic Health Records (EHRs). They may not fully understand the importance of safeguarding medical privacy, so they end up not taking caution.

For instance, they store their data in unencrypted folders or sometimes send sensitive medical information via email. This provides an easy route for cybercriminals to access their records and exploit/hack other personal details.

• Increasing Incidents of Ransomware and Phishing Attacks

As digital technology continues to evolve and expand, hackers are also getting advanced; they can infiltrate the whole device with advanced ransomware and phishing programs. They can also easily put harmful scripts on systems and steal login credentials.

Furthermore, IoT devices such as insulin pumps, ventilators, and other medical instruments are also vulnerable network access points. Therefore, conducting thorough audits for software updates, patches, and necessary upgrades is crucial to enhance your organization's security measures.

• Unregulated System Accessibility

Unrestricted access to the system can create a potential risk of unauthorized access. Because if such systems hold confidential patient data and end up in the hands of unauthorized personnel, the consequences can be severe.

Further, this situation might lead to phishing attempts, enabling hackers to exploit more vulnerable network areas. Therefore, it is important to ensure that all devices containing sensitive patient data are securely stored in safe locations and restrict access to only authorized users.

• Lack of comprehensive identity management

When healthcare organizations lack comprehensive identity and access management, the authentication and access control process is weaker. It becomes more difficult for IT teams to ensure the right people have appropriate access to data.

For example, it's quite common for healthcare organizations to exchange large databases. But they often fail to control the data access and implement adaptive authentication methods, creating difficulty for their IT team to assign the right employee-authorized access. This weakness further leads to security issues and breaches.

Now that we are aware of the challenges faced in the healthcare industry, it is crucial to implement a suitable IAM solution. An IAM solution in place provides centralized control over user authentication and authorization processes, ensuring that only authorized personnel can access sensitive data. This helps healthcare organizations maintain compliance with regulatory standards and avoid costly fines or penalties.

Let's discuss more about how an IAM solution can help healthcare organizations to overcome the above mentioned challenges.

5 Benefits of a Modern IAM Solutions in the Healthcare Industry 

Below is a list of capabilities discussed in detail offered by modern IAM solutions that enables your IT team to seamlessly tackle the rising and concerning healthcare challenges.

1. Enables your IT team to protect patient information

The primary advantage of a modern IAM solution in healthcare lies in bolstering cybersecurity. Healthcare institutions frequently face threats such as ransomware, phishing attacks, and other forms of malware due to inadequate security measures. This is where a modern IAM solution steps in to provide comprehensive protection.

Take, for example, next-generation identity and access management (IAM) in healthcare. Organizations can leverage features like multi-factor authentication (MFA) to add layers of security. By deploying this robust authentication method, your organization can effectively safeguard sensitive patient data from potential security breaches.

Similarly, single sign-on (SSO) functionality addresses the issue of managing multiple login points. By offering patients a single set of credentials to access various accounts, SSO streamlines the authentication process while enhancing user convenience.

2. Allows your IT team to seamlessly governing & securing access 

A modern IAM solution empowers your IT team to efficiently control, manage, and govern the identities of healthcare staff, including their roles and responsibilities within the healthcare ecosystem.

IAM is crucial for improving efficiency in healthcare facilities by implementing precise access controls and role-based permissions. This ensures that your employees only access the information needed for their roles, reducing data misuse and streamlining workflows. 

Moreover, it provides functionalities to centralize the management of hospital employees' identities, simplifying tasks such as onboarding new staff, revoking access from former employees, managing user accounts, and monitoring access activities. This centralized approach enhances the security of patient data.

For instance, IAM offers significant benefits to physicians. Instead of constantly navigating between various software systems throughout the day, they can leverage single sign-on (SSO) capabilities. With SSO, physicians only need to log in once to access all necessary resources, eliminating the need for repetitive logins and maximizing productivity.

3. Focuses on prioritizing compliance to ensure regulatory adherence

Implementing a modern IAM solution in healthcare streamlines the focus of the IT team on safeguarding patient privacy and ensuring compliance with regulatory standards.

With IAM, your team can concentrate on patient care while maintaining compliance with strict regulations like HIPAA and GDPR through robust audit trails, authentication, and data encryption, thus protecting patient trust and reducing legal risks.

Let's delve into the key compliance requirements that healthcare organizations need to prioritize:

• HIPAA: The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) mandates stringent measures to protect patient data across administrative, physical, and technical domains.
• EPCS: Electronic Prescribing for Controlled Substances (EPCS) imposes specific requirements, including two-factor authentication and provider identity verification, to enhance security in prescription processes.
• CCPA: The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) stipulates guidelines for institutions to inform patients before collecting their personal information. Patients retain rights to opt out, access, and delete their data from hospital databases.

Overall, a robust IAM solution offers the ideal equilibrium by fulfilling security prerequisites and providing essential access controls to comply with international and industry-specific regulations.

4. Helps your IT enhance patient experience

By incorporating an IAM Solution into your healthcare organization, your IT/support team can significantly elevate the overall patient experience. How does it achieve this?

• Streamlines privilege management by automating the assignment and revocation processes as needed.
• Promotes integrated healthcare delivery, fostering better collaboration among teams.
• Modernizes communication channels through identity federation, facilitating seamless interactions.
• Strengthens identity verification with MFA, fortifying patient data security against cyber threats.

By implementing these measures, your team not only enhances patient satisfaction but also safeguards sensitive patient data from potential breaches.

5. Provides your IT team with a centralized database system audits

IAM solutions not only aid in preventing unauthorized access but also provide mechanisms to detect potential security issues. These solutions leverage centralized databases to authenticate transactions, access requests, and various other activities.

Through the integration of unified logging and reporting tools, security departments, IT, and GRC (Governance, Risk, and Compliance) teams can efficiently conduct system audits and maintain documentation.

Moreover, real-time inspections facilitated by IAM solutions enable medical facilities to adhere to regulatory requirements, mitigating the risk of prosecution and fines. This ensures a secure and legally compliant environment for healthcare organizations.

Now, you're keenly aware that identity and access management (IAM) solutions are vital tools in fortifying your organization's security. By controlling access to systems and data, IAM solutions help mitigate risks and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.

While there are numerous IAM solutions on the market, not all offer the comprehensive features necessary to address the unique needs of the healthcare industry. This is where Zluri stands out.

Enhance Healthcare Organization’s Security with Zluri’s Access Management

Zluri provides a centralized access management platform, making it easy to control user access to sensitive medical systems and data. With its intuitive dashboard, your team can efficiently assign, modify, or revoke access to critical healthcare applications and resources. This centralized system ensures complete control over who can access patient records and other confidential information, enhancing both security and compliance with healthcare regulations.

Let's see how Zluri helps you with access management.

• Zero-Touch Provisioning

Zluri streamlines and automates the onboarding process for healthcare organizations with zero-touch provisioning. This allows new staff members to instantly access the essential medical applications and resources they need, without requiring manual setup from your team. 

By automating this process, Zluri ensures that healthcare professionals can start working immediately and improve efficiency.  At the same time, Zluri helps maintain strict access control over sensitive patient data and systems.

In the image below, you can see how you can preset your onboarding workflows for new employees to pace up the whole process.

It ensures a smooth and secure integration of new users into the system, reducing the chances of errors or delays during the onboarding process. Also, it is heighted in Kuppingercole's research and analysis report that Zluri’s zero touch provisioning features enhance user experience by providing quick access to essential tools and resources.

• Secure User Offboarding

Zluri ensures secure user offboarding, even when employees leave. The platform automates the process of revoking access and de-provisioning accounts, reducing the risk of unauthorized access to sensitive medical data and systems. 

In the image below, you can see how you can preset your offboarding workflows for new employees to pace up the whole process.

This automation helps prevent potential security breaches by ensuring that departing healthcare professionals no longer have access to patient information or critical applications, safeguarding data security and regulatory compliance. Zluri also saves your team’s time and effort by streamlining offboarding procedures, allowing them to focus on more critical tasks.

• Automated Access Requests

Zluri streamlines access request management by automating the entire process. Healthcare staff can easily request access to medical applications or resources through tools like Slack, and the automated workflow ensures swift approvals, minimizing delays and boosting productivity. 

The below mentioned image shows Zluri’s capability to raise access requests via Slack.

By simplifying access request procedures, Zluri enables healthcare professionals to quickly obtain the permissions they need to provide care. This feature also enhances transparency and accountability, ensuring that access to sensitive patient data is managed securely and efficiently.

• Manage Access Beyond SCIM

Zluri offers robust access management capabilities that go beyond SCIM protocols, providing healthcare organizations with full control over both SCIM and non-SCIM applications. This holistic approach allows healthcare providers to manage access to a wide range of medical systems, even those that do not support SCIM. It ensures that access control policies remain consistent across all platforms.

• Sensitive Data Access to Contractors/External Parties

Zluri tackles the challenge of managing contractor access to sensitive healthcare data by automating access control for contractors. The platform ensures that access rights are time-bound and automatically revoked once a contractor's assignment ends, reducing the risk of unauthorized access or data breaches. 

The below mentioned image shows Zluri's capability to identify external users and manage their access.

By maintaining strict control over who can access patient information and medical systems, Zluri strengthens security and ensures compliance with healthcare regulations, making contractor access management more efficient and secure.

Book a demo today! 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

‍

1: What is identity management in healthcare?

IAM enables healthcare organizations to safeguard patient information by controlling user access rights and improving identity governance. It ensures that only authorized individuals can access sensitive medical data, protecting it from unauthorized use. 

2: What are the 4 components of identity access management?

IAM components are typically divided into four key categories: authentication, authorization, user management, and a central user repository. Authentication serves as the gateway where users provide credentials, such as passwords or biometrics, to gain access to specific healthcare systems or resources. This process ensures that only verified individuals can enter sensitive applications, reinforcing data security.

3: What is an example of identity management?

Centralized identity management is commonly used in organizations where all systems and resources are controlled under one administrative domain. For instance, a healthcare network with multiple facilities can implement a single sign-on system, allowing staff across different locations and departments to access critical applications through one unified platform. This approach simplifies access management and enhances security across the organization.

4: What is identity automation?

Identity automation is the process of using technology to automate the management of user identities and access privileges within an organization.By leveraging identity automation and orchestration solutions, businesses optimize their identity and access management (IAM) workflows, thereby fortifying security measures and operational efficiency. Key advantages encompass swifter provisioning and deprovisioning cycles, minimizing the likelihood of human errors. 

5: What is meant by zero touch provisioning?

Zero touch provisioning (ZTP) stands as an innovative access provisioning solution enabling seamless deployment for unconfigured devices. Upon powering on, ZTP automates the loading of essential deployment files, encompassing system software, patches, and configuration files, thereby expediting the setup process effortlessly.

‍