From securityboulevard.com
The global pandemic has accelerated technology trends across several industries, and health care is no exception. As social distancing increases, telehealth and remote patient monitoring are becoming increasingly common. According to the CDC, telehealth visits increased by 154% in March 2020.
Health care environments in hospitals and homes are also becoming increasingly connected, with new IoT devices, more sensors and soaring amounts of data. In a recent IEEE survey of 350 CIOs and CTOs, 42% stated that they had expedited the adoption of IoT technologies due to the pandemic.
Yet even before the COVID-19 crisis emerged, hospitals and other health care facilities were moving forward rapidly on a digital transformation journey. A flood of new devices and software – like wearable technologies, remote IV pumps and monitoring devices and mobile apps – have been improving health care delivery for years. However, at the same time, they have dramatically increased the complexity of network environments. The changes wrought by the pandemic-driven global health care crisis have only increased the pressure on IT teams at health care facilities.