The AAMI Nominating Committee has selected three leading executives with diverse backgrounds in healthcare technology to serve on the association’s Board of Directors. The Board is made up of 18-19 representatives who are responsible for reviewing, revising, and approving strategic and business plans; establishing and approving policies; and providing guidance on strategic issues affecting the association.
“The Nominating Committee had a slate of 11 outstanding candidates at the upper echelons of their fields who are passionate about AAMI’s mission. AAMI is fortunate to have such talented and active members who also are capable of providing their leadership and vision to the organization as Board members,” said AAMI Board Chair Phil Cogdill, senior director of sterilization and microbiology QA at Medtronic. “Our selection was based on what the Board needed at this time. We also wanted to add additional diversity and strengths in areas that are needed to meet the challenges faced by the healthcare community.”
The nominees are Pamela Arora, senior vice president and chief information officer for the Children’s Health System of Texas; Rollin J. “Terry” Fairbanks, director of the National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare and associate director of the MedStar Institute for Innovation in Washington, D.C.; and Heidi Horn, vice president of clinical engineering service for SSM Health in St. Louis, Missouri.
The official election of these individuals will occur during the association’s annual business meeting, which will be held during the AAMI 2017 Conference & Expo in Austin, Texas, June 9-12. Their terms will begin immediately thereafter.
AAMI Standard Offers Solution to Hospitals Facing New Cyber Risks
Hospitals around the world face potentially costly and devastating risks to their patients and financial bottom line because of the vulnerabilities introduced when medical devices are connected to information technology (IT) networks.
Those risks, however, could be significantly mitigated through the application of thoughtful and comprehensive risk management practices, according to a new resource from AAMI – called Health IT Risk Management – that lays out the business case for the use of a series of standards known as 80001.
Whether it’s a software patch that takes down an entire fleet of life-critical infusion pumps or a network upgrade that winds up crashing a patient monitoring system, the threats posed by the highly technical and interconnected nature of modern healthcare are real and consequential.
“Imagine having a plan in place that would help your staff know what to do under such alarming circumstances and help prevent such disruptions from happening in the first place,” reads Health IT Risk Management. “Fortunately, a standard was developed by a distinguished committee of medical device manufacturers, IT experts, and others with a keen understanding of medical devices and IT systems – and how they must work together.”
The 80001 series of standards provides IT and healthcare technology management (HTM) professionals working in hospitals with detailed guidance on how to safely incorporate medical devices into IT networks, as well as a solid framework to manage the ever-changing risks associated with these networks.
Network troubles are serious matters in modern healthcare. According to the Ponemon Institute, the average cost of a data breach in the healthcare industry is a sobering $2.2 million. Another study by Emerson Network Power estimates that unplanned data center downtime costs close to $9,000 per minute for healthcare organizations.
The 80001 series of standards defines the roles, responsibilities, and activities of health delivery organizations in managing health IT risks. Several of the key benefits of the 80001 series, according to Health IT Risk Management, include:
- Providing a framework for analyzing and controlling health IT risks related to safety, effectiveness, and data and system security
- Helping mitigate constant cybersecurity threats with proactive control measures
- Ensuring “ownership” for every component of systems and networks
- Promoting shared responsibility and partnerships for the safety of health IT among healthcare systems and vendors
- Complementing quality system implementation and improvements
- Reducing reactive labors and disaster-mode situations
- Helping reduce costs associated with downtime and inefficiencies
Health IT Risk Management can be downloaded for free at www.aami.org/HealthITRisk. AAMI has adopted all parts of the 80001 series as American National Standards or AAMI Technical Information Reports, which can be purchased through the AAMI Store, www.aami.org/store, or by calling 877-249-8226.
New Podcast with AAMI President Robert Jensen
In a conversation with podcast host Terry Baker, AAMI President and CEO Robert Jensen describes his vision for the association, how his time as a Marine officer helped prepare him for this job, and the opportunities (and challenges) he sees for the healthcare technology community.
This AAMI podcast, along with more than a dozen others, is available at www.aami.org/newsviews/podcasts.