The digital transformation of healthcare has unlocked incredible opportunities to improve patient care and operational efficiency. However, it has also exposed a critical flaw in how third-party risk management (TPRM) is done across the industry.
As digital health technologies proliferate, so do the challenges for security teams tasked with vetting vendors. The traditional questionnaire-based vendor assessment model was long considered the gold standard for due diligence, but it is struggling to keep pace with the volume and complexity of today’s supply chains.
The chokepoint in the procurement process
Healthcare organizations rely on a vast ecosystem of vendors to power everything from telemedicine platforms to electronic health records. But with great reliance comes great responsibility: these vendors must be thoroughly vetted to ensure they won’t introduce vulnerabilities into the organization.
The sheer volume of vendors is overwhelming security teams. Requests for security due diligence assessments are coming in faster than they can be completed, creating a backlog that frustrates internal business owners waiting to onboard critical technologies.
This bottleneck not only slows innovation but also prevents teams from reassessing critical vendors as their technology evolves and threats change.
The vendor's perspective: A broken model
The challenges aren’t limited to healthcare providers. Vendors in the supply chain are equally overwhelmed by the inefficiencies of the current system. Every prospective customer requires some form of security due diligence, and there’s no industry-wide standardization.
Vendors often face
- Inconsistent questionnaires: Each customer has unique expectations, making it impossible to standardize responses.
- Moving goalposts: Security requirements vary widely across healthcare entities, leading to confusion and delays.
- Resource constraints: Vendors with finite security teams struggle to keep up with the growing volume of audits, leaving customers dissatisfied and deals unfinished.
The result is a broken system that delays procurement, frustrates both parties, and introduces unnecessary risk.
Reassessments: The forgotten priority
Adding to the complexity is the need to reassess critical vendors over time. Technology and threats evolve rapidly, and a vendor’s security posture today might not be the same six months from now. However, most security teams are so bogged down with initial assessments that they don’t focus on reassessments. This creates a dangerous gap in visibility and increases the likelihood of vulnerabilities slipping through the cracks.
How do we fix it?
If the traditional TPRM model is broken, how can we rebuild it? Here are a few key strategies.
1. Automate where possible
Leverage tools and platforms that automate aspects of vendor assessments, such as real-time monitoring of security postures, to reduce reliance on static questionnaires.
2. Adopt industry standards
HITRUST, with its risk- and threat-based approaches to security and compliance, provides a framework that can alleviate many of these challenges. Healthcare organizations and vendors can reduce inefficiencies and build a more robust TPRM program by leveraging HITRUST as a standardized assessment mechanism.
3. Join industry collaborators
The Health 3rd Party Trust (Health3PT) Initiative is a proactive group committed to reducing third-party information security risk with more reliable and efficient assurances. It has been established to evaluate, identify, and implement actionable and practical solutions that healthcare organizations can adopt to provide more reliable assurances, consistent information security program reporting, and better visibility into downstream relationships with third parties.
4. Implement continuous monitoring
Use continuous monitoring to track vendors’ security practices over time instead of relying solely on one-time assessments. This approach ensures risks are identified and addressed as they arise.
5. Enhance collaboration
Foster open communication between vendors and healthcare organizations to set clear expectations and establish mutual trust.
The path forward
Vendor risk management is at a breaking point in healthcare, but it doesn’t have to stay that way. We can reduce the burden on security teams and vendors alike by embracing automation, standardization, and continuous monitoring. Most importantly, we can create a TPRM program that balances efficiency with the need for robust security, ensuring that healthcare organizations can innovate safely while protecting patient data and trust.
The time for change is now. Let’s stop letting TPRM be a chokepoint and start using it as a competitive advantage.
