When asked to rank their biggest concerns related to security threat exposure, 78.4 percent of healthcare executives rank employee awareness in their top three responses, according to a Level 3 Communications survey.
The report, conducted by HIMSS Analytics, surveyed 125 health IT executives and professionals' feelings about the healthcare cybersecurity landscape.
Here are five findings from the survey.
1. In terms of respondents' concerns related to security threat exposure, 46.4 percent ranked employee security awareness/culture as their No. 1 concern, while 78.4 percent ranked it among their top three.
2. The second and third most common security concerns included exposure from partners or third parties (68.8 percent ranked in their top three) and securing wireless devices (53.6 percent ranked in their top three).
3. When asked about the top barriers to developing a comprehensive IT security program, 79.2 percent said "competing priorities" and 74.4 percent said budget ranked among their top three concerns.
4. Only one-third of respondents reported being highly concerned that a security breach would impact their organizations' ability to provide care in 2017. On a scale of 1 to 7, with 7 representing the highest level of concern, the average respondent gave a ranking of 4.8.
5. These are the top three services respondents have in place to mitigate security breaches.
- Remote access/secure access controls: 87.2 percent
- Internal/employee security awareness programs: 84.8 percent
- Security consulting services: 75.2 percent
Click here to view the full survey.