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CHICAGO, March 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Hill-Rom (NYSE: HRC) today debuted enhanced workflow efficiency and security features for its Welch Allyn Connex® vital signs monitoring portfolio. The devices now integrate secure access technology from Imprivata®, a healthcare IT security company, to enable stronger protection of patient data collected or stored on Connex devices used in EMR-connected workflows, while providing clinicians a faster, easier way to access or update patient data.

Medical devices commonly require a user to log in to gain entry. With this new technology integration, Connex vitals monitoring devices have the ability to read a clinician's hospital security badge via barcode or RFID, offering one-step device access at the bedside. This faster, more efficient log-in to the device helps clinicians move quickly to their primary focus – patient care – while also protecting data integrity into the EMR.

The technology enhancements to Welch Allyn's vitals portfolio also include the ability to restrict device access to just those people who need it, which means less potential for data to be compromised, either by accident or by design.

Industry observers suggest that the average cost of a healthcare data breach is $2.2 million per incident, costing the industry $6.2 billion over two years.¹ Failure to properly secure medical devices can lead to a myriad of problems for healthcare organizations, ranging from data integrity and availability concerns to compliance and patient safety implications. Connex vital signs monitors that are integrated with Imprivata technology, along with the existing Connex security and encryption features, can help improve data security by assuring that EMR users are properly authenticated.  

"This integration illustrates our focus on protecting areas that are critical in healthcare today: patient privacy, data integrity and nurses' time. Our collaboration with Imprivata helps us deliver a simpler user experience for clinicians, while delivering the security today's healthcare organizations demand," said Alton Shader, president of Hill-Rom's Front Line Care business. "We are excited to further improve connected workflows for our customers with the Connex vitals monitoring portfolio."

These technology enhancements for the Connex family of vital signs devices debuted during the 2018 HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) conference, which features Hill-Rom's complete solution set across the care continuum. Connex vital signs devices are designed to encrypt the data they exchange and support secure authentication in accordance with industry best practices.

About Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc.
Hill-Rom is a leading global medical technology company whose products, services and more than 10,000 employees worldwide help people get better care inside and outside the hospital. Our innovations in five core areas – Advancing Mobility, Wound Care and Prevention, Patient Monitoring and Diagnostics, Surgical Safety and Efficiency, and Respiratory Health – improve clinical and economic outcomes and ensure caregivers in more than 100 countries have the products they need to protect their patients, speed up recoveries and manage conditions. Every day, around the world, we enhance outcomes for patients and their caregivers. Learn more at hill-rom.com.

¹ Ponemon Institute Research Report: Sixth Annual Benchmark Study on Privacy & Security of Healthcare Data. May 2016.

SOURCE Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc.