Pro and anti healthcare protesters vie for space in front of televison camera. Demonstration for health care in front of the Hale Boggs Federal Building, Poydras Street, New Orleans (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Health care systems (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Here’s a worrying but informative article from the Conversation. It highlights that confidential data and even human lives are at risk thanks to the huge spread of connected technology in healthcare.
Source: Why has healthcare become such a target for cyber-attackers?
I have been involved in developing and delivering very large technology solutions into both the public and private sectors. In my experience, there’s a massive injection of ‘bought-in expertise’ to deliver the initial project – although delays and cost overruns are the rule, often due to political meddling and weak management, especially in the public sector. But it’s the ‘maintenance period’ when the problems really manifest – this is the period when the project should be routinely delivering the solution. There’s often a shortage of expertise and budgetary pressures in the post delivery stage – frequently operations are outsourced to greedy outsource service providers.
For me, part of the problem is with initial conception, engineering and design. To effectively manage emerging technology risks, there’s need to take a ‘whole-life’ approach from ‘cradle to grave’, setting out robust quality and service level parameters.
Let’s face it, a large part of the problem is that the ‘beancounters’ having too much sway – austerity is like a tourniquet but it fails every time at the strategic level.
If healthcare providers’ executives and managers, both the private and public sectors, can’t manage emerging technology on a whole life basis, it’s time for them to step aside and outsource – or they should resign or be fired because they’re part of the problem. At a strategic level, there a a need for massive consolidation and rationalization – technology will only be truly effective if it’s harnessed to radical change, a golden period of ‘continuous innovation’.
Thoughts?
Dr Alf's Blog 