Limited budgets and internal expertise do not have to hold back healthcare cybersecurity. Every organization operating today can dramatically improve its security posture by developing a core strategy that guides daily activities and coordinates different areas of the business.
This article explores how a virtual chief information security officer (vCISO) can help healthcare organizations adopt better security practices without requiring significant budget increases.
But first, let’s establish why now is the right time for healthcare organizations to rethink their approach to cybersecurity – starting with their top position.
Understanding the Role of CISOs in Healthcare
A chief information security officer (CISO) is a senior executive tasked with establishing and maintaining an overarching strategic vision for the organization’s information security program. The role covers multiple areas of cybersecurity; surveys show that the vast majority of CISOs are involved with Security Operations (98%), Security Architecture (94%), and Governance Risk, and Compliance (92%).
The CISO ultimately bridges the gap between technical cybersecurity concerns and business imperatives. Nearly 50% of CISOs now report directly to the CEO, and having a CISO offers several notable benefits – including:
- Security Coordination: Healthcare IT systems are large and complicated – from larger vendor networks to complex infrastructures that must walk the line between data interoperability and HIPAA compliance. A CISO provides the necessary strategic overview to coordinate efforts across the entire organization and ensure security best practices are followed.
- Efficiency Maximize: Cybersecurity efforts can be highly expensive, with the average organization spending up to $120,000 each year on HIPAA compliance alone. A CISO ensures this spend is allocated effectively, according to a comprehensive overview that avoids waste and captures opportunities for increased efficiency.
- Proactive Posture: With evolving threats and changing compliance requirements, healthcare organizations must be proactive to stay ahead of regulators and malicious actors. A CISO ensures that the long-term view is prioritized, from pushing through proactive remediation efforts to communicating with the C-suite and board about the urgency of cybersecurity.
The benefits of a traditional CISO are significant, though they do come with a financial investment. The role is highly skilled and boasts exceptional demand with growing concerns about cybersecurity. This results in a high salary, with most healthcare CISOs earning between $200-300k. This helps explain why the role is often overlooked, especially within smaller organizations that operate on tight cybersecurity budgets and may not have a particularly evolved IT security program in place.
Recent surveys find that 40% of healthcare organizations don’t have a designated CISO. However, this may be the result of binary thinking; many organizations assume hiring a full-time CISO is the only way to access an expert capable of coordinating and optimizing your security program. The reality is that a growing number of people are relying on outsourced experts to provide the same benefits – but without the long-term commitment.
Introducing the vCISO: The Key to Scaling Cybersecurity in 2025
A virtual CISO (vCISO) covers most of the same responsibilities as a traditional CISO: providing a strategic overview of security, coordinating efforts to implement and optimize systems, and proactively combating IT-related risks. The difference is a vCISO is outsourced and integrates with your team on a temporary basis, serving as fractional support.
This delivers two distinct benefits:
1. Lower Costs
Leveraging vCISOs helps overcome the prohibitive expense of hiring a full-time CISO, with estimates suggesting it reduces the cost by 30-40% on average. Leaders don’t need to commit to a long-term contract and can access the CISO skillset exclusively when it is required. This opens the playing field to a wide range of organizations that might otherwise struggle to handle the cost – from smaller organizations with limited existing cyberinfrastructure to growing businesses that need a budget focused on other areas of their operations.
It’s also important to note that a vCISO will be more affordable than working with several third-party partners. A vCISO can oversee risk assessments, incident response planning, policy creation, employee training, executive reporting, and much more – for the price of a single vendor.
2. Greater Flexibility
The vCISO enables organizations to adapt fluidly to changing security needs, accessing expert guidance when it’s required – without having to pay for it when they don’t. For example, a vCISO might be drafted to help an organization evaluate and respond to a specific new challenge – such as managing the implementation of AI – and then full-time staff will be able to handle further implementation and management of the program.
This is a more realistic approach to cybersecurity for many organizations. They may not have the ongoing need for an executive-level cybersecurity leader, but that doesn’t mean they should miss out on the value a CISO can offer.
The question is how to find the right vCISO to work with your organization.
Factors to Consider When Selecting a Healthcare vCISO
The selection process for a vCISO can be highly complicated, but there are two factors that will immediately narrow down the choice:
1. Healthcare Expertise
Just 15% of healthcare CISOs are “healthcare natives” who started their careers in the industry. While this isn’t necessarily a disadvantage, it suggests that the majority—those coming from outside healthcare—may have less familiarity with the industry’s unique security challenges. They may be less familiar or up to date with regulatory frameworks like HIPAA and may lack a deep understanding of how healthcare organizations operate – which has a direct impact on how cybersecurity works in practice.
Healthcare leaders should narrow their search by focusing on vCISOs that have real industry expertise. This would ideally mean having direct experience in the specific kind of organization – whether that be ambulatory care or a healthcare payor.
2. Comprehensive Service
Many vCISOs have very narrow specialisms or experience, which significantly inhibits their capacity to provide truly overarching strategic advice. Without access to a wider range of services – from policy and procedure development to NIST assessments – they are likely to recommend measures because they are able to offer them – not because they are necessarily in the organization’s best interests.
Healthcare leaders should evaluate the variety of services a potential vCISO offers. This would ideally cover the full spectrum of cybersecurity – from assessments to remediation and reporting.
Get Expert Fractional Support from Intraprise Health
Intraprise Health helps healthcare organizations like yours shift from reactive to proactive security posture with vCISO support. With decades of healthcare-specific cybersecurity expertise and a full range of services available, our team helps plan and implement more robust security programs without overstretching your budget.
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