Identity Management Enables Care Anywhere
At many health systems across the country, care is being delivered at multiple locations — whether it’s another hospital in the system, an affiliated clinic or the patient’s house — and clinicians need access to the network in order to provide care.
“Identity management enables flexibility to ensure users can securely and consistently access the systems they need, regardless of where care is delivered,” says McCallister. “Healthcare today is not confined to a single location, and neither are the people delivering care.”
Kumbhat describes this shift in care delivery as impacting the “perimeter” of the “traditional security model,” where any device or user connected inside a network (e.g. on-premises) has been automatically deemed safe. In an increasingly digital world, where clinicians are traveling to multiple locations or working from their own homes for telehealth appointments, what constitutes a “safe” user or device must pivot to outside the hospital’s physical location. “Identity becomes the new perimeter,” says Kumbhat.
“It doesn’t matter if a physician is accessing records from the ICU or their home office: What matters is that their identity is verified and their access is governed by consistent policies across every touchpoint,” he adds.
Common Challenges in Identify Management
The long-term success of identity management hinges on policies and continued attention. “Building and maintaining an effective identity management program takes time, coordination across teams and consistent adherence to standards and processes,” says McCallister. “Without that discipline, organizations may implement solutions but never fully realize their value.”
That value extends into two areas: improved user experience as staff more efficiently and easily gain access to the systems they need, when they need it, and a strengthened cybersecurity foundation for the organization, says McCallister.
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A particularly vulnerable access point in healthcare is compromised credentials, explains McCallister. “Once access is gained, it can impact system availability and, ultimately, our ability to deliver care.”
In this worse-case scenario, when a health system also requires multifactor authentication, sensitive information remains protected, says Kumbhat. By removing unauthorized access and limiting permissions for staff to their roles and responsibilities, IT leaders can bolster security measures to help prevent potential breaches.
“Identity management is foundational to everything we do in healthcare IT today,” says McCallister. “As care delivery becomes more distributed and digital, and as cybersecurity threats continue to evolve, the importance of identity will only increase.”
The Future of Identity Management
All too often, IT leaders come into their role with the looming task of connecting various antiquated and siloed systems into something cohesive and functional; this may be due to outdated legacy systems or as a result of a merger or acquisition. Whatever the reason, Kumbhat says, leaders should modernize one thing at a time, starting with business applications and getting single sign-on and multifactor authentication established. The next phase includes automating permissions and looking at clinical workflows.
The steps taken to modernize an identity management system are also steps toward modernizing the overall health system, adds Kumbhat, including “interoperability, better digital experiences for patients and AI-powered workflows that all require a trustworthy identity layer to function securely.”
“The health systems that make the most progress treat identity as an ongoing program rather than a one-time project,” says Kumbhat.
