Stretching Every Dollar: Smart Strategies for Rural Hospitals
- Rajesh Kanungo
- Aug 4
- 2 min read
Updated: Aug 11
Rural hospitals are the backbone of healthcare in underserved communities, delivering everything from primary to long-term care for over 37 million Americans. But with ongoing budget cuts, staffing shortages, and infrastructure challenges, many facilities are being pushed to the brink—some facing closure, others scaling back services.
For clinicians and administrators committed to keeping patients safe and communities healthy, telehealth and remote monitoring are tools worth considering, not as replacements, but as supports for strained systems. These technologies offer ways to extend care capacity, maintain patient relationships, and manage chronic conditions, even with fewer in-person resources.
Critically, this doesn’t mean adopting risky, unproven systems. When implemented with the right cybersecurity safeguards, telehealth can help hospitals preserve care continuity without compromising data security, patient trust, or compliance.
Smart Safeguards for Telehealth
Telehealth allows rural hospitals to serve more patients at lower cost, improve health outcomes, and extend access to care. To fully realize these benefits and protect their digital infrastructure, hospitals must address cybersecurity proactively. This helps avoid compliance violations, service disruptions, and patient data risks ... ensuring care remains uninterrupted and trusted.
The checklist below outlines practical and cost-effective cybersecurity actions that rural hospitals can adopt to implement telehealth securely.
Cybersecurity Checklist for Safe and Effective Telehealth
✅ Telehealth Vendor Due Diligence
Vet telehealth vendors for cybersecurity certifications (HITRUST, HIPAA, FDA, SOC 2).
Use contracts that define data ownership, breach notification timelines, and liability.
Verify that telehealth vendors have robust Incident Response teams and processes.
Verify and validate the telehealth vendor's security update policies and procedures.
Verify the telehealth vendor's Identity management, authentication, and authorization systems interoperate with yours.
Audit telehealth systems periodically for compliance.
✅ Patient Education & Support
Ensure patients can use the telehealth services securely without undue hardship.
Offer guidance materials on the secure use of telehealth platforms (e.g., how to verify provider identity).
Educate patients not to share PHI through insecure methods (e.g., email or SMS).
Encourage strong password practices and basic device security for patient devices.
✅ Governance & Policy
Establish a cybersecurity policy tailored to telehealth operations.
Ensure compliance with HIPAA, HITECH, and relevant state privacy laws.
Designate cybersecurity responsibilities within hospital leadership or the IT staff to work with telehealth operations.
Conduct regular risk assessments and update policies accordingly.
✅ Secure Infrastructure & Access
Ensure resources are allocated for the secure integration of telehealth services into the healthcare IT system.
Use secure, encrypted platforms approved for healthcare use.
Require multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all remote access.
Implement role-based access controls to limit PHI exposure.
Regularly update all software and systems to patch vulnerabilities.
✅ Monitoring & Incident Response
Maintain antivirus and anti-malware protection on all systems.
Monitor network activity and user logins for suspicious behavior.
Keep offline, regularly tested backups of all critical systems and data.
Develop and practice a cyber incident response plan.
✅ Staff Training & Awareness
Train clinical and administrative staff on secure telehealth usage.
Provide training on mobile device security, including safe app usage, updates, and Wi-Fi hygiene.
Conduct phishing simulations to build awareness.
Train clinical and administrative staff on secure telehealth usage (e.g., not using personal devices for PHI access without safeguards).
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