What risks are digital health entities underestimating?

Every day, we’re seeing more digital health solutions become part of clinical processes – and this makes it harder to distinguish between technology risk and healthcare liability. What starts as a software platform can quickly become part of the care delivery process, bringing new professional liability, regulatory, medical malpractice and bodily injury exposures into scope. 

So where is this most relevant? Think about technology that supports diagnostics, remotely monitors health metrics, triages patients or influences treatment decisions. Suddenly, the technology company behind it can find itself exposed to claims more traditionally associated with healthcare providers. 

Liability only gets more complicated from there. What if multiple parties contribute to a patient’s treatment journey? Where does the responsibility lie? It’s why understanding not just what the technology does, but how it interacts with patient care, is so important.

Digital health companies are just one side of the story. At the same time, healthcare providers themselves are adopting technology, from AI-powered tools and remote monitoring solutions to intuitive healthcare systems. And with that comes technology-related exposures that may not have existed a few years ago.  

So what does that mean in practice? Alongside traditional medical malpractice concerns, providers need to think about the contracts and terms of service they’re signing, and the technology E&O exposures and obligations that can come with them.

It can also make responsibility harder to untangle. As healthcare providers, technology vendors and third-party partners become interconnected, more liability may no longer sit neatly with one organization. Knowing who is responsible for what is becoming an increasingly important part of managing risk.

Healthcare is a high-stakes industry, where disruption of any kind can have a direct impact on patient care. And unfortunately, causing disruption is exactly what many cyber attacks are designed to do. System outages can delay treatment, restrict access to care and ultimately affect patient outcomes.

Just look at the Change Healthcare cyber attack. In 2024, attackers gained access through compromised credentials on a remote access portal without multi-factor authentication. The resulting disruption affected healthcare operations across the US, including access to care and critical clinical services.

And that’s where the risks start to overlap. A single cyber incident can lead to business interruption and financial loss, but it can also cause clinical disruption and wider liability concerns. As technology becomes more embedded in healthcare delivery, cyber risk is increasingly becoming a healthcare risk.

As these risks come together, insurance needs to keep up. Traditional programmes built around separate cyber, technology and healthcare policies can leave grey areas when exposures cross these boundaries. 

And that becomes particularly important as businesses grow. For many digital health companies, insurance can start out as a contractual requirement, rather than as part of their risk management strategy. However, as business models evolve and new technologies are introduced, insurance can play a much more strategic role in supporting growth.

That’s where the right insurance partner can make a real difference. Looking at insurance alongside these bigger business decisions can help companies understand how their exposures are changing, make sure their coverage keeps pace and ultimately give them more confidence to grow.