Ordr's latest release protects connected medical devices

Ordr has announced the availability of Ordr Clinical Defender.

Ordr Clinical Defender enables Healthcare Technology Management (HTM) teams to more efficiently and accurately manage their connected medical devices. It is built on Ordr's foundational asset and risk management features, and developed with best practices from the top healthcare delivery organisations (HDOs) around the globe.

According to the company, HTM teams today face significant challenges in managing the explosive growth of connected medical devices critical to patient care.

There is typically a 15-20% discrepancy between assets registered in a computerised maintenance management system (CMMS), and assets deployed on the network.

This increases risks for healthcare organisations as unknown devices increase the attack surface, and missing devices may contain protected health information (PHI), putting the organisation in jeopardy of a costly HIPAA data breach violation.

Furthermore, HTM teams spend an average of 30-60 minutes per person, per shift, looking for equipment. At a cost of $100 per hour, reducing this time can lead to significant cost savings.

In addition, addressing clinical risks like identifying devices running outdated operating systems can drag on for weeks due to the lack of accurate data, making organisations vulnerable to cyberattacks.

According to the company, Ordr Clinical Defender, running on the new Ordr 8 Software release, provides focused, actionable and accurate HTM insights and workflows, so HTM and clinical engineering teams can:

• Automate real-time asset inventory without impacting device operations
• Address compliance by identifying missing, newly-connected, or misplaced devices
• Mitigate risks by identifying devices with vulnerabilities and recalls
• Accelerate remediation efforts for devices with clinical risks
• Save millions of dollars by optimising device utilisation

Ordr Clinical Defender and Ordr 8 capabilities include the following.

Data Shaper for users to customise the Ordr platform and quickly zero in on the information and insights most relevant to them. For example, enabling HTM users to only view specific medical devices they are responsible for within that hospital, or location, or that are using a specific protocol or access method.

Asset Inventory and Analysis highlights critical information for real-time visibility and compliance, including the ability to:

• Complete real-time automated asset inventory, correlated with CMMS data
• Identify newly connected devices in the last 24 hours to ensure no new medical equipment is installed without following proper procedures
• Identify medical devices with Protected Health Information (PHI) that have not been seen on the network for more than 60 days

Connectivity and Location Analysis pinpoints devices in the wrong zone, VLAN or subnets to locate missing devices by identifying device details, and physical and network location; and, Monitor VLANs for rogue or misconfigured clinical equipment.

Clinical Risk Insights and Workflows enable prioritised risk remediation, including the ability to:

• Identify devices with vulnerabilities and FDA recalls
• Prioritise clinical risk patching and remediation by impact
• Integrate with IT Service Management (ITSM) tools to automate process for remediation
• Simplify sharing option to share device details with other users in the organisation for further analysis

Device Utilisation summarises usage of devices and fleets, including the ability to:

• Identify appropriate schedule for maintenance
• Identify usage of specific devices to support procurement decisions
• Analyse usage to improve efficiencies of under-utilised equipment
• Simplify action framework to enable quick enforcement of policies across a set of target devices
• Simplify search to make it easy to identify device insights no matter where users are in the Ordr interface

Ordr chief product officer and co-founder Gnanaprakasam Pandian says, "We've partnered closely with the leading healthcare organisations in the world to develop a simplified and optimised product for HTM. It's everything HTM and clinical engineering teams need to more efficiently perform their most critical tasks. We're excited to bring the value and benefits of the Ordr platform to a new set of stakeholders.