Going Passwordless in Healthcare: Overcoming Hurdles

Dr. Sean Kelly, Chief Medical Officer of Imprivata, Discusses Top Tech Concerns Marianne Kolbasuk McGee (HealthInfoSec) • March 9, 2026 21 Minutes

Healthcare CISOs and their teams often contemplate the benefits of going passwordless in their organizations but face pushback from clinicians concerned that the new tech will slow down their access to critical patient care systems or disrupt their workflow.

CISOs should begin their passwordless endeavor with a clear and solid assessment of where authentication friction and risk already exist, said Dr. Sean Kelly, a practicing emergency room physician and chief medical officer at security firm Imprivata.

"Sometimes doing a password audit can be really enlightening - understanding the amount of effort and work that's going into simply logging on and off of systems, or authentication events within systems," he said.

A recent Imprivata study of 206 healthcare IT leaders found ...