Imprivata launches digital identity maturity model and assessment

Imprivata has announced the launch of two free first of their kind tools, the Imprivata Digital Identity Maturity Model and Digital Identity Maturity Assessment.

The digital identity company for life and mission-critical industries has released the custom-built tools to amplify the voice of clinicians and end-users in the decision-making process for a healthcare organisation’s digital identity strategy.

Imprivata offers its Digital Identity Maturity Assessment to help organisations assess and benchmark the maturity of their current strategy.

The self-service, interactive tool enables clinical leadership, IT, and security teams to quickly assess the effectiveness of their digital identity programme based on current-state tools and processes.

This is similar to NHS England’s new digital maturity assessment (DMA) questionnaire, which was discussed at Digital Health Rewired 2023 last month.

The output of Imprivata’s assessment is a customised report considering user outcomes, security, and compliance in alignment with the maturity model, with actionable insights to simultaneously drive improvements across all areas.

Teresa Niblett, DNP, chief nursing informative officer (CNIO) at TidalHealth, said: “It’s essential for Healthcare IT leaders to partner with clinicians when designing and implementing new solutions. Otherwise, these initiatives risk falling short in addressing the greatest needs, or, creating challenges that overshadow the benefits intended.

“An assessment that incorporates the clinician’s experience in a digital identity strategy will lead to more useful, effective, and productive implementations, which strengthens the partnership between clinicians and IT teams, and ultimately improves outcomes.”

The high value of sensitive patient records and the life-threatening impact on patient care means that healthcare organisations are a major target for bad actors. Imprivata aims to strengthen the assessment of cyber security risks to these organisations to help bolster security.

The company helps organisations prioritise strategies focused on security the user (the digital identity) and their credentials, not the traditional network perimeter.

The Imprivata Digital Identity Maturity Model provides organisations with a guide to establishing a detailed digital identity programme that simultaneously optimises security, compliance, and user access.

Mapping functions for a unified strategy

Tied closely to the Digital Identity Framework, each phase of the model maps to the governance and administration, identity management, authorisation, and access and authentication functions needed to achieve a unified strategy.

“Healthcare IT and security teams are under enormous pressure to evade external and internal threats while also implementing new technologies and supporting evolving care delivery models with ever-diminishing resources,” said Wes Wright, Imprivata chief technology officer.

“At the same time, clinicians can’t wait for access to the resources they need to provide patient care. For example, if a patient comes into accident and emergency (A&E) and the doctor can’t access his or her records, there’s a potential life-critical outcome.

“Our maturity model and assessment remove the intimidation of implementing, or optimising, a digital identity strategy that improves security and compliance while enabling clinical staff to better serve patients,” he added.

By offering an actionable roadmap, organisations can advance through the phases to enhance access efficiency, secure critical systems and data, and ensure compliance.