The past three months have seen a record high in medical device recalls, increasing 126 percent in the first quarter of 2018 from last year, according to the Stericycle Recall Index. The biggest culprit was software, which is unsurprising given the increase in high-tech devices that often run on legacy systems.
While many healthcare systems have legacy platforms running on some aspect of its network -- think MRIs and X-Ray machines -- medical devices are one tool that can directly put patients at risk if a breach or software failure were to occur.
“Security on devices doesn’t just impact HIPAA, it affects patient safety,” said Christian Dameff, MD, an emergency room doctor at the University of California San Diego.