December 2024 edition of CloudWave Connections
We’ve created this newsletter for our customers to communicate what’s new, let you know about upcoming events, share customer stories, and introduce you to members of our team.
We hope you find this newsletter informative and something that you look forward to receiving. If you have suggestions for topics, or have questions about something that’s been featured here, please let us know.
A Note from Matt Donahue
Make your list, and check it twice
As 2024 ends, many of our customers may be making their to-do lists as they continue to focus on protecting their hospitals from the ever-present threat of cyberattacks. Maybe it includes conducting employee HIPAA security training, researching ways to incorporate AI, and improving incident response plans.
Unfortunately, the battle to keep healthcare safe continues. Earlier this month, a Colorado hospital was fined by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights for over half a million dollars due to multiple multi-factor authentication-related breaches that took place in 2020. Compromised credentials are the number one cause of a breach, which is why CloudWave continues to advocate multi-factor authentication (MFA) as one of the basic tools employed to protect healthcare organizations. MFA has proven to prevent password-based cybercrime and defend against phishing attempts, keylogging attacks, and hacking threats.
Cyber liability insurance providers have already begun requiring healthcare organizations to demonstrate evidence of proactive measures to prevent cyberattacks. As regulatory involvement in healthcare and accountability at the executive level increase, proactive prevention will become a focus as we head into 2025.
Wherever you are on your roadmap, CloudWave has the tools and expertise to help your healthcare organization better prepare for today’s challenges.
We wish all of our valued customers and partners a happy holiday season and a healthy and safe 2025.
Matt Donahue is the CTO at CloudWave.
Stay up to date with our latest news, press releases, and events on LinkedIn.
All New Customer 
Roundtables in 2025
Join the monthly discussion
Look for your email invitation to join both CloudWave executives and your fellow healthcare IT peers for a lively hour of discourse on the topics that healthcare leaders face every day.
Upcoming Events
MUSE EXECUTIVE INSTITUTE
Newport Beach, January 5-7, 2025
CloudWave will be in attendance, please say hello!
HIMSS25
Las Vegas, March 3-6, 2025
HIMSS is back in Las Vegas in 2025! CloudWave is already planning some exciting activities in Booth 465, please plan on stopping by!
Keep Have you signed up for
Advance Authorization yet?
Keep your OpSus Requests moving in 2025
CloudWave is pleased to offer a new way to streamline the way we deliver changes to your OpSus Cloud Services.
Incremental adjustments to the scope of your cloud service are to be expected, but the timing and process may not always be convenient. CloudWave is now able to provide a way to allow key personnel to pre-approve routine change orders.
With Advance Authorization, you set the boundaries. Adding components, expanding storage, increasing capacity are all change order categories covered under your Advance Authorization Agreement.
Contact your Customer Success Manager or Sales Director to learn more.
Leave the Patching to CloudWave
A Fully-Managed Patching Service to keep you protected
Failing to patch systems on a timely basis leaves your hospital vulnerable to performance slowdowns, regulatory compliance issues, and even worse—the risk of cyber-attacks.
Utilizing the proven CloudCare+ patch maintenance strategy, healthcare enterprises can prevent cyberattacks, performance slowdowns, and regulatory compliance issues.
CloudCare+ solves these challenges with a skilled service team that utilizes a proven process throughout the patching cycle. This enables healthcare IT teams to take a hands-off approach to maintenance while CloudWave keeps the environment compliant and secured against cyber threats.
Learn More About the Cybersecurity Insider Program
Exciting Updates for the 2025 Cybersecurity Insider Program – If you’re not a member – Join Now!
The Cybersecurity Insider Program aims to provide cybersecurity education and information to the healthcare community free of charge. We offer various ways to access educational information, including live online events, detailed guides and written information, on-demand training, and some exciting new changes coming up in 2025.
Enhancements to the Insider Program in 2025:
- Live Insider Sessions: The live Insider Sessions will now be quarterly instead of monthly.
- Save the dates: January 30, April 24, July 31, October 30
- Register for the program to add these to your calendar and to get access to the library of exclusive content from 2023-2024.
- Live Insider Session topics will be announced in early January.
New to the program in 2025:
- Quarterly Peer Group Meetings – an opportunity to discuss cybersecurity challenges and ideas with your peers. Some details:
- One-hour sessions via Microsoft Teams
- Group Meetings will be small – only 8- 10 per session
- You’ll have the opportunity to reserve your spot starting in December
Click here to learn more and to register for the Cybersecurity Insider Program. If you have already registered, no action is needed.
Meet Brian Nelson
Director of Cloud Infrastructure
Many CloudWave employees have spent their careers in healthcare IT.
Brian Nelson was one of the original engineers who helped launch CloudWave’s Infrastructure in 2013.
Over a decade later, Brian is now the Director of Cloud Infrastructure.
“I feel very fortunate to have been able to contribute at several levels helping build OpSus. And I am proud to see how far we have come since we signed our first customer.”
In 2006, after 24 years of active-duty service in the US Navy, Brian landed at Christus Health in San Antonio as an Enterprise Server Engineer, where he was first introduced to MEDITECH.
In the summer of 2013, the opportunity to join Park Place International presented itself. Brian “embraced it” because it would deepen his knowledge of diverse data center and cloud solutions and help him grow and enhance his skills in supporting MEDITECH.
Today, Bryan leads the OpSus Data Center and Infrastructure Team, the End User Computing Team, and is responsible for caring for and managing CloudWave’s three data centers in Lebanon, Ohio, San Antonio, Texas, and Puerto Rico.
He also owns the ITSM processes of Capacity, Performance Configuration, Release, and Availability Management.
What does Brian likes most about working in healthcare?
“Knowing that the services we deliver are the single most impactful and effective experience we can deliver to health care providers. We help those who help others. And we have a lot to be proud of.”
Wishing all
Happy Holidays
and a Healthy and Safe
New Year!
From all of us at CloudWave