How secure communication leads to operational stability

Operational stability is an organization’s ability to keep its clinical, administrative, and technical operations running smoothly and consistently without interruption. In healthcare, this means systems function reliably, communication remains seamless, and care delivery continues as expected, even during high-pressure periods, system changes, or external challenges like cyberattacks. Importantly, stability goes beyond basic system availability. It also depends on technology that enables secure workflows, integrates effectively with other systems, and safeguards patient information. When any of these components break down, the effects can be felt across the entire organization.

Communication as the cornerstone of stability

Effective communication is essential to delivering high-quality healthcare, and email plays a central role by enabling:

• Collaboration between clinical staff and administrative teams
• Communication with external providers, partners, and vendors
• Sharing of appointment reminders, laboratory results, care plans, and referrals
• Delivery of urgent alerts and workflow notifications that support timely decision-making

However, despite its importance, email is often overlooked and typically operates on legacy technology that tends to increase risks instead of mitigating them. According to a Paubox report, 83% of healthcare IT teams say legacy systems disrupt daily operations, indicating that outdated technology is not a rare challenge but a pervasive one. 

As Matt Murren, CEO of True North ITG, explains from firsthand experience, “I’ve seen firsthand how legacy email platforms can quietly—but critically—undermine operational stability and efficiency across healthcare organizations.”

This insight indicates that many healthcare leaders overlook that operational stability often begins and ends with the robustness of communication systems.

How legacy systems impacts healthcare operations

Legacy email systems were never designed to meet the needs of today’s healthcare organizations, where communication must be secure, compliant, and seamlessly integrated with other technologies. As Murren explains, outdated platforms often fall short in key areas such as security, integration, and scalability, leading to ongoing problems like system downtime, inefficient workflows, increased security exposure, and heightened compliance risk.

Frequent downtime and its consequences

Legacy systems are more prone to outages and performance issues, and in healthcare, even short delays can waste precious time or delay clinical decisions. As the article Modernising Healthcare IT While Closing Security Gaps notes, “Integration shortfalls are widespread. Nearly three-quarters, at 73%, run unintegrated, outdated systems for IoT and telehealth, a higher level than the global average of 65%. The consequences include fragmented interoperability, slower access to real-time patient data in one place, and heightened exposure to vulnerabilities. When platforms cannot exchange information reliably, clinical teams lose timeliness while security teams lose visibility. Operational stability is also affected. Nearly two-thirds, at 64%, frequently face downtime and technical issues, while 43% say legacy systems make networks vulnerable to attack.”

Downtime affects care pathways, delays procedures, and forces staff to revert to manual or makeshift alternatives, increasing the risk of errors.

Workflow inefficiencies

Outdated email infrastructure often lacks deep integration with electronic health records (EHRs), scheduling systems, and patient engagement platforms. When systems don’t ‘talk to each other,’ staff spend time manually transferring information, copying messages into records, or chasing down updates, all of which drain productivity.

As the Healthcare IT News article Clinicians say outdated tech is jeopardizing care notes, “Nearly all frontline clinicians (98%) polled for a recent survey say inefficient technology is causing delays or errors in patient care, averaging 11 incidents per month.” 

Furthermore, inefficient workflows also impact staff morale and ultimately affect the quality and timeliness of patient care.

Security vulnerabilities and compliance risks

Perhaps the most serious concern with legacy email platforms is cybersecurity. Email remains the top attack vector for cybercriminals targeting healthcare organizations. As Paubox notes, email is the number one source of HIPAA breaches. In fact, 180 healthcare organizations fell victim to email-related breaches in 2024, and in the first half of 2025, 107 email-related breaches were reported.

Even when using widely adopted platforms, healthcare organizations frequently misconfigure security settings, leaving vulnerable gaps that attackers can exploit. The Paubox report also noted that only a tiny fraction of organizations, 1.1%, maintain a low-risk email security posture, and many phishing attacks go unreported (95%). 

Furthermore, Paubox research indicates that up to 81% of healthcare providers were targeted by email-based unauthorized access or hacking attempts, illustrating how pervasive these threats are. But the impact of cyber incidents goes beyond data breaches alone. These attacks also cause significant disruptions to daily healthcare operations. In fact, the Healthcare IT News articles states that “More than 95% of respondents said patient care suffers when systems fail or data isn't easily accessible, and 24% reported safety-jeopardizing incidents occurring at least once per shift.”

Read also: The hidden costs of legacy email systems in healthcare

How email instability impacts patient care

In healthcare, communication is more than just a transfer of information; it is a clinical lifeline. When email systems are slow, unreliable, or unstable, clinicians struggle to coordinate care, make timely decisions, and execute critical tasks that directly affect patient outcomes.

The study The Use of Wireless E-Mail to Improve Healthcare Team Communication examined the use of wireless email for clinical communication in a 26‑bed intensive care unit (ICU) and provides important evidence about how communication tools affect patient care. In this six‑month study, ICU staff, including intensivists, nurses, respiratory therapists, pharmacists, and support personnel, used push wireless email on handheld devices to communicate clinical information. The study found that:

• 92% of staff reported that wireless email improved the speed and reliability of communication.
• 88% said it improved coordination among team members.
• 90% noted that it resulted in faster patient care, and
• 75% perceived that it contributed to safer patient care overall.

These findings indicate that faster, more reliable messaging helps clinicians share updates more efficiently, reduces misunderstandings, and enhances coordination, all of which contribute to safer, more timely care delivery.

Conversely, when email systems are unstable, such as legacy platforms that experience delays, outages, or failures, these benefits disappear. Communication delays can mean slower response times for critical changes in a patient’s condition, missed handoff details during shift changes, and broken workflows when clinicians cannot reliably share information. In high‑acuity environments like ICUs, these breakdowns can directly impact patient safety, delay treatments, and increase clinician frustration and workload.

Beyond speed and reliability, the study also suggests that improved communication, even through simple email enhancements, strengthens team dynamics and collaborative decision‑making. Better coordination reduces the risk of errors, ensures that critical information reaches the right providers quickly, and allows clinicians to act with confidence when patient conditions change rapidly.

Taken together, this research stressed that email instability doesn’t just inconvenience staff; it can slow clinical processes and undermine the delivery of safe, effective patient care. 

Why integration and scalability matter for future-ready communication

Operational stability requires systems that deliver messages safely and integrate deeply with the healthcare technology ecosystem.

Modern email and communication platforms can:

• Work seamlessly with EHRs to automate secure patient notifications
• Integrate with identity management systems for stronger access control
• Connect to monitoring tools to alert teams to performance issues in real time

Legacy systems struggle to integrate at this level, forcing organizations to rely on workarounds that introduce risk and inefficiency.

Scalability matters too. As healthcare organizations grow and adopt new modes of delivery, such as telehealth, communication platforms must scale without performance degradation. Legacy email solutions often struggle well before modern cloud-native systems do, leading to bottlenecks and outages.

Read also: How replacing legacy email systems improves healthcare operations

Building operational stability through secure communication

One tangible example of how secure communication enhances stability comes from a study conducted at Grady Health System, a large urban safety‑net hospital that implemented a secure messaging platform integrated with its electronic health record system. 

In this study, hospital leadership introduced HIPAA compliant secure messaging alongside traditional paging to improve how care teams communicate within inpatient and ambulatory settings. Researchers tracked usage trends and surveyed staff before and after implementation to understand how secure chat affected communication reliability and workflow. 

The findings demonstrated clear benefits for operational performance:

• Rapid and more reliable communication: Survey results showed a significant improvement in staff perceptions of how reliably they could reach team members after secure messaging was implemented. The average agreement that communication was rapid and dependable increased noticeably between pre‑ and post‑implementation surveys. 
• Increased adoption and usage: Secure messaging usage grew rapidly over time, rising from roughly 9,300 chats per month at launch to nearly 380,000 messages per month during the COVID‑19 pandemic. This surge reflects how clinicians embraced a tool that was both functional and dependable during periods of intense operational stress. 
• Improved coordination across roles: The study included a diverse group of clinicians, physicians, nurses, pharmacists, case managers, and others and showed that secure messaging improved cross‑discipline reachability, helping ensure that the right person could be contacted quickly when needed. 

These improvements matter for operational stability. Faster and more dependable communication reduces the time staff spend looking for information or relying on fragmented systems like pagers and phone calls that may be slower or less secure. When staff can reach the right people quickly through an integrated platform, workflows become smoother, coordination improves, and the organization is better positioned to handle peak workload periods without disruption.

Importantly, secure messaging also supports HIPAA compliant communication, ensuring that sensitive patient information is protected while minimizing risks associated with unsecured channels. By integrating secure communication directly into clinical workflows via the EHR, the system helps maintain both efficiency and compliance, two pillars of operational stability. 

See also: HIPAA Compliant Email: The Definitive Guide (2025 Update)

FAQS

What is operational stability in healthcare?

Operational stability means that healthcare organizations can maintain consistent, reliable, and uninterrupted clinical and administrative processes. It ensures systems work as expected, communication flows smoothly, and patient care is delivered safely and efficiently.

What are the security risks of using legacy email systems in healthcare?

Older email platforms may lack modern encryption, phishing protection, and access controls. This exposes organizations to cyberattacks, unauthorized access to PHI, and regulatory penalties for noncompliance with HIPAA.

How can healthcare organizations start improving their communication infrastructure?

Begin by assessing current systems for security, integration, and scalability gaps. Engage stakeholders from clinical, IT, and compliance teams to identify pain points and select solutions designed for healthcare environments.