The Army reports that a new smaller, lighter, less expensive, and more cyber secure Portable Digital Radiography System (PDRS) will soon be available to use. The PDRS was developed and supported by the Army Medical Center’s Capabilities Development Integration Directorate (CDID) www.cs.amedd.army.mil/cdid.aspx.
The PDRS’s integrated product team included members from the Navy and U.S. Marine Corps, CDID, the USAMMA National Maintenance program, USAMMA Cybersecurity Division, and from the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support.
USAMMA a subordinate agency of the U.S Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, reports that the PDRS will significantly reduce the cost per system and overall logistical footprint plus the change-over will save the Army about $55,000 per system.
Modernizing medical devices also means that the equipment must meet stringent Army cybersecurity requirements. Many modern medical devices need to connect to military computer networks to operate properly. In an effort to ensure medical devices purchased by the government do not produce security vulnerabilities, each device must pass a robust security certification process.
The PDRS is the first Army medical device to receive the Authority to Operate (ATO) under the new Risk Management Framework (RMF) which is a process that took more than a year to complete.
RMF integrates security and risk management activities into the system development life cycle. The risk-based approach to security control takes into consideration effectiveness, efficiency, and constraints due to applicable laws, directives, executive orders, policies, standards, or regulations.
“Achieving an ATO under RMF gives us peace of mind that this device complies with all of the current cybersecurity requirements ensuring patients’ private health information remains secure at all times,” said Andrew McGraw, Chief of USAMMA’s Cybersecurity Division, Integrated Clinical Systems Program Management Office.