VOICE SECURITY – HEALTHCARE
Case Study
This hospital system chose AHA-endorsed Mutare to protect its network from voice-based attacks, citing proven performance, privacy assurances, and the enthusiastic recommendation of other healthcare peers.
Summary
The Client
Ohio-based integrated healthcare system with more than 7,000 staff and clinicians serving a large, multi-county region.
The Problem
An unrelenting stream of unwanted and damaging call activity was infiltrating the hospital voice network, reaching patients in their rooms and causing needless distractions for care providers. A significant number of these calls were suspected to be from criminal sources, creating substantial concern over patient privacy and hospital systems security.
The Impact
- Unwanted calls to in-room phones erode patient experience, threaten patient security
- Needless distractions increase risk of medical error for critical care providers
- Voice-based fraud and social engineering increase risk of data security compromise
- Unwanted call management wastes time and diverts resources
The Solution
Mutare’s Voice Traffic Filter is now identifying and filtering out social engineering calls, robocalls, spoof calls, spammers, scammers, vishers, and AI-generated calls in their many and evolving forms, contributing to a better patient experience, enhanced patient security, reduced disruption to care. professionals and, in the process, returning valuable time to the organization.
Customer Perspective
“Administrators were reassured by Mutare’s well-established HIPAA compliance practices, extensive experience serving healthcare organizations, and the strong recommendations from those customers.”
Full Story
The Impact
A persistent stream of robocalls, spam calls, spoof calls, scammers, and other forms of nuisance and nefarious call activity was negatively impacting patients, staff, clinicians, and operations. Unwanted calls to patient in-room phones were not only creating unneeded stress, but also exposing vulnerable individuals to potential fraud. Disruptive calls to nursing stations and contact center agents were delaying response to legitimate callers while disrupting safe and efficient care delivery. Altogether, these calls were presenting a genuine threat to patient experience, patient safety, employee productivity, and data security.
Voice Security Made Possible
This organization at first tried to mitigate the problem of scam calls to patient rooms by adding an IVR call routing system to filter out robocalls. However, they discovered that sophisticated technologies now available to threat agents, including voice recognition and AI-fueled call path mapping, were allowing scammers to easily traverse IVR systems and reach their intended targets. By providing criminal agents a pathway to multiple endpoints, the IVR was not just ineffective as a security measure; it actually served to broaden the attack surface.
Having already experienced an earlier breach of their legacy EHR system that risked exposure of patient data, security team members were particularly sensitive to any potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities within their IT systems. Recognizing the lack of protection for their voice network, they turned to their technology business partner, who recommended Mutare. Following a demonstration of the Mutare Voice Traffic Filter, hospital administrators agreed to a Mutare Voice Security Assessment to get a better understanding of the depth and make-up of their unwanted voice traffic problem.
The results: Of the 1.5 million annual calls into their hospital system, more than 12% were identified as unwanted. The loss of productive time alone due to workflow disruptions was equivalent to the annual salary of three full-time staff members. More concerning, on closer examination of the flagged calls, Mutare discovered that a significant portion were nefarious in nature and were spread throughout the organization, including patient rooms, nursing stations, contact center, and IT helpdesk.
Applying the Right Voice Security Solution
Administrators were reassured by Mutare’s well-established HIPAA compliance practices, extensive experience serving healthcare organizations, and the strong recommendations from those customers. Adding further confidence, Mutare is endorsed by the American Hospital Association as a Preferred Cybersecurity & Risk Provider for Voice Security.
With all concerns alleviated, this healthcare organization quickly moved forward with purchase and implementation of the Mutare Voice Traffic Filter and is now benefiting from its broad protections for staff, clinicians, and the patients they serve.
