Healthcare Trends in 2024: Challenges and Opportunities

Beyond ransomware

However, as we enter 2024,  healthcare-specific ransomware attacks will not be the only topic to make the news. Talk of artificial intelligence (AI) continues to bubble up around watercooler conversations, and growing compliance requirements continue to strain healthcare’s already challenged staff. 

Digital transformation — including the exponential growth of the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) — continues to expand and provide opportunities to extend access and improve health outcomes. The broad use of APIs to foster this interoperability, however, can introduce other vulnerabilities that must be monitored.

To foster a more resilient medical ecosystem, a symbiosis of people, process, and technology across the healthcare continuum is necessary. Read on to learn about the challenges that we can expect in 2024 in those three key areas — and what opportunities we can leverage to overcome those challenges. 

People

Challenge: Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence has been heralded as a huge opportunity to relieve provider burnout, with myriad use cases like disease diagnosis, transcription, and remote patient treatment. But AI platforms like ChatGPT can help craft very convincing phishing emails, and the HIPAA Journal reports that a large percentage of the data breaches on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights breach portal started with a response to a phishing email. The ability to develop better spear phishing and mimic voice calls will continue to be a powerful tool for cybercriminals.  

Challenge: Staffing

Today’s security challenges are amplified by healthcare’s ongoing staffing crisis. A recent survey from the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) cites hiring and retention as the primary barrier to robust cybersecurity at healthcare organizations: Almost 84% of respondents said they struggle to attract skilled staff, and more than two-thirds cite retention as another top problem.

Opportunity: Partnerships

In 2024, expect stronger comprehensive technology partnerships that (mostly) eliminate point solutions, and other arrangements that can provide staffing support as needed — especially when it comes to detection and remediation of threats and network security risks.

Process

Challenge: Compliance

Healthcare is no stranger to regulatory measures, and all signs point to complexity in their management. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the industry shifted away from on-site co-payments and paper statements toward virtual payments. This made sense given the rise of telehealth appointments.

But with the enforcement of PCI DSS 4.0 compliance beginning in 2025, healthcare organizations will be ramping up to meet the requirements for accepting credit card payments.

Opportunities: Resilience and evolution

We’ll see more conversations around resilience, especially thanks to the recent EU Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA). DORA facilitates innovation in finance while introducing frameworks to mitigate the risks associated with that industry’s digital transformation. 

During the pandemic, healthcare innovated rapidly to suit the needs of both the patients and those providing their care, but in many instances offered progress without appropriate digital protection. Given the ongoing rise in data breaches, conversations around healthcare delivery also require an evolution in security strategies.

Technology

Challenge: Broader use of APIs

Perhaps nowhere is this conversation about healthcare delivery more apparent than the continued expansion of the IoMT. That landscape continues to be more interconnected thanks to the broader use of APIs across the healthcare ecosystem. Increasing access to data inherently promotes better patient outcomes and financial outcomes.

Those benefits come with trade-offs, however — notably, complexities in API security. This rapidly growing attack surface will only expand in 2024. Expensive, legacy hardware-based systems in medical facilities are unlikely to be replaced altogether, but will be supplemented with newer software-based equipment that is connected to other facilities' networks. Thus, APIs will be exposed to additional and greater threats. Healthcare organizations will need to employ new tools that support continuous discovery, monitoring, and behavioral analytics. 

Challenge: Supply chain woes

Limited access to life-saving technology or medications is another obstacle that’s likely to continue in 2024. No industry is immune to supply chain woes, but perhaps none has been as hard hit as healthcare and life sciences in recent years.

Although shortages of personal protection equipment are mostly resolved, the life sciences and pharmaceutical industry struggles with supply chain challenges caused by both the planet’s climate and the geopolitical climate. The use of blockchain technology can address supply chain management, but it necessitates securing access via a Zero Trust strategy.

Opportunity: The “cloudification” of healthcare

As resource-strapped healthcare organizations still grapple with the effects of the reduction in visit volume during the pandemic (and resultant macroeconomic trends), they will be laser focused on cost savings in 2024. 

Transitioning to the cloud eliminates the need for on-premises infrastructure and reduces the reliance on staffing and paying for in-house IT teams. Industry market research leader IDC recently shared that the “cloudification” of healthcare includes a whole host of other benefits, including better data security, enhanced patient safety, and improved interoperability.

Learn more

No matter what your healthcare organization’s priorities are for 2024, an Akamai partnership offers comprehensive solutions to meet every challenge. Connect with us to learn more.