While cybersecurity remains top of mind for healthcare professionals, the industry lacks some readiness to deal with threats in several areas, according to a 2024 Cisco study.

IT frustrations continually plague health organizations across the U.S. Disjointed and poorly supported technology compromises patient care, contributes to clinician burnout, and wastes billions of dollars a year. The good news? The three most challenging IT struggles the healthcare industry is facing today are more manageable than most business leaders realize.

The healthcare industry and its patients have benefited greatly from the Healthcare Internet of Things (IoT), the wide-ranging collection of medical gadgets that can connect to a network and help improve patient care in real time.

Every day, millions of these medical devices connect to hospital networks, where they generate, transfer and store protected health information (PHI) as well as data from other electronic health records (EHR), clinical workstations and smart hospital applications.

At its core, HIPAA ensures health organizations maintain patient confidentiality. The best way to do that? Technology.

Unexpected IT expenses can pop up at any time. From hardware failure to poor technical support, the high cost of managing business technology can take a toll on growing healthcare organizations. That’s why many practices outsource their IT operations to a team of technology experts at a managed service provider (MSP). According to CompTIA, an MSP can cut IT costs by as much as 40 percent while doubling operational efficiency.

Long workdays, staff shortages, and cumbersome technology are among the many struggles contributing to today's high physician burnout rates. In the last year, more than 50 percent of U.S. doctors experienced at least one symptom of the condition, which can include mounting anxiety, exhaustion, and depression.