CloudWave’s Predictions for Healthcare IT in 2025 Part 1: Hospitals Will Adopt a Patient-First Cybersecurity Approach

2025 promises to be a transformative year for cybersecurity, cloud adoption, and regulatory shifts in healthcare as the industry continues to navigate increasingly complex technology infrastructure requirements. The looming threat of cyberattacks, evolving patient care demands, and stringent regulatory requirements will necessitate a more proactive and patient-centric approach to healthcare IT. From the changing landscape of cybersecurity accountability to embracing artificial intelligence and public cloud solutions, healthcare organizations must prioritize collaboration, innovation, and resilience to stay ahead of emerging challenges.

Here is  the first of CloudWave’s 2025 predictions in our series about what to expect in the healthcare IT landscape in the coming year.

There was a great deal of government activity regarding cybersecurity in healthcare in 2024 amid an increasingly volatile threat landscape. Building on 2024’s direction, 2025 will see increased regulatory requirements driven by growing cybersecurity concerns. We expect that key developments will include:

• New York’s recently approved cybersecurity regulations will set a precedent for additional states to propose similar legislation. For example, Connecticut just enacted new obligations on hospitals to have their cybersecurity plans audited on an annual basis by an independent cybersecurity auditor to address the continued threat of ransomware attacks in the healthcare space.
• An expansion of New York’s regulations to clinics, medical groups, and other healthcare organizations
• More clarity and guidance on federal cybersecurity initiatives, such as The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) HPH Cybersecurity Performance Goals

Throughout 2025, healthcare organizations must prioritize investments in cybersecurity measures and risk management strategies to maintain compliance and better protect care delivery, including adopting patient-centric cybersecurity approaches. This involves a strategy shift from IT-centric practices to focus on mitigating the impact of cyberattacks on patient care as well as protecting data. A more holistic and people-focused approach will be required, replacing traditional methods, regulations, and frameworks. It will also require successful collaboration between IT, clinical, and executive teams.

This multi-departmental methodology helps address the gap between prioritizing patient impacts versus the data in an attack response. For example, one area that is evolving to address this is tabletop simulations that test an attack response in a real-world simulation. Tabletops that extend beyond the traditional IT focus to include executive and clinical teams are becoming more common. This gives a broad organizational view for everyone involved to better understand the widespread impact of a cyber event and its unique role in response, including what happens during prolonged downtime.

By prioritizing patient safety and well-being, healthcare organizations can better protect themselves against cyber threats and ensure continuity of care.

Interested in learning more on this topic? Download our guide to Patient-Centric Incident Response in Healthcare.

Mike Donahue, Chief Operating Officer, CloudWave