HIMSS Conference Preview: Keith Duemling on His Medical Device Security Session, How IT Executives Can Make Most of Shows, & Some Dont’s for Sales Folks

As the old expression goes, time is money. For executives like Keith Duemling, Senior Director of Cybersecurity Technology Protection, Cleveland Clinic, time is also about focus. That’s why he’s laser focused while at shows like HIMSS on finding ways to better protect the clinic’s patients and their data. To that end, exhibit floor games that require him to do anything other than that are non-starters. What Duemling will be doing at the show is participating in a session on how to better protect medical devices, which he says move up the priority ranking for cyber resources due to how close they are to patient care, and, thus, patient safety. One area of the HIMSS Conference that Duemling will likely venture is walking the fringes of the exhibit floor, where smaller and newer vendors may be showcasing a hidden gem in plain sight. In this interview with healthsystemCIO Founder & Editor-in-Chief Anthony Guerra, Duemling discusses these issues and many others.



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Bold Statements

… there’s also something to be said for some of the smaller solution providers who have some really innovative and new products. They’re in the peripheral sections, and if you spend some time in those areas, you’ll really see some unique things. Again, it’s one of those situations where the risk is worth it because you find some gems that are hiding in plain sight.

… rarely is there one product that’s going to solve all the problems, so talk to me about how you can help me solve problems but also integrate with other capabilities that will help me solve problems or other functions.

… my time (at a conference) is limited … my organization and our patients really expect us, when we’re there, to be laser focused on what our mission is. Anything that really pulls me in a direction off of that is not something that I’m going to be able to get behind. 



* Session Title: Lessons From the Trenches: Securing Medical and Internet of Things/Operational Technology Devices

* Day/Time/Location: Wednesday, March 13 • 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM Eastern Time; W304E



Anthony: Welcome to healthsystemCIO’s HIMSS Conference Preview Interview with Keith Duemling, Senior Director of Cybersecurity Technology Protection with the Cleveland Clinic. I’m Anthony Guerra, Founder and Editor-in-Chief. Keith, thanks for joining me.

Keith: Pleasure to be here.

Anthony: Very good. Keith, why don’t we start off, just give me the overview of your organization and your role.

Keith: As you’re probably aware, the Cleveland Clinic is a very large healthcare system throughout the United States and we also have operations in Europe and Abu Dhabi as well. My role specifically is leading the design, development and operations of a number of our cyber platforms that are necessary to protect our entire global healthcare platform throughout the world. These are definitely challenging times, as healthcare and cybersecurity are not new acquaintances for each other but the intensity has only increased in the last couple of years.

Anthony: Excellent. Thank you, Keith. I’m speaking to people who are going to be presenting at the HIMSS conference to give our readers a little idea of what’s going to be going on there. I know you’re going to be speaking. You want to tell me a little bit about your session.

Keith: Yes, absolutely. When we were thinking about the HIMSS conference and different content,