The Journal of mHealth Vol 2 issue 5 (Oct) | Page 20
Does Device Interoperability Sacrifice Security?
Does Device Interoperability
Sacrifice Security?
By Stephanie Preston, Cyber Embedded Systems Engineer, Battelle and Melissa Masters,
Director of Electrical, Software and Systems
Engineering, Battelle
When medical devices work together,
patients and healthcare providers benefit. But is there a downside to medical
device interoperability?
As our devices become more connected
to each other and to hospital networks,
they open up new cybersecurity risks.
The same interoperability standards that
make it easier for devices to communicate may also make medical devices more
vulnerable.
The Promise of Device
Interoperability
The Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineering (IEEE) defines interoperability as “the ability of a system or a
product to work with other systems and
products without special effort on the
part of the customer.” Interoperable
devices use standardized ways of interacting and sharing data with each other,
with hospital networks, and with patient
Electronic Health Records (EHRs).
Devices designed to be interoperable are
essentially intended to be “plug and play”:
when you add them to your network, they
should be ready to communicate with
other parts of the healthcare system.
The desire for connected, interoperable devices is already driving significant
improvements in healthcare quality and
patient outcomes. For example, a hospitalized patient may be connected to
six or more medical devices, including
infusion pumps, ventilators, and various
vital signs monitors. When these become
integrated and communicate directly
with the EHR, doctors and nurses have
real-time access to complete, accurate
information on a patient in one place
rather than consulting each device individually. This reduces clinician burden
and healthcare errors. Interoperability
also enables sophisticated healthcare data
analytics and device automation – for
example, a drug delivery device that
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October 2015
could automate dosages based on feedback from various monitoring devices.
As healthcare moves towards greater
reliance on electronic records and connected devices, hospitals and regulators are pushing towards standardized
systems for interoperability. The Office
of the National Coordinator for !