Alliance for Smart Healthcare Excellence Launches Healthcare Zero Trust Maturation Model (HC-ZTMM™) at ViVE26

Framework delivers first healthcare-specific, clinically informed Zero Trust maturity assessment, free for qualified provider organizations.

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Feb. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Alliance for Smart Healthcare Excellence today announced the official launch of the Healthcare Zero Trust Maturation Model (HC-ZTMM™) at ViVE26. Developed by the Alliance in collaboration with a board of health system security executives and industry experts, including Zscaler, HC-ZTMM™ provides healthcare organizations with a structured, data-driven way to assess and benchmark their Zero Trust posture while explicitly accounting for clinical workflows and patient safety.

Early insights from the first participating organizations underscore why the model is launching now. 

Aggregate results show that most healthcare organizations remain at Posture 1 ("Structured but Static"), having foundational controls in place, but lacking continuous, cross-domain enforcement and automation. Two notable findings from the initial cohort include:

• Dynamic trust assessment presents as a major blind spot. Trust decisions are typically evaluated at login or on a periodic basis, not continuously, limiting both cyber resilience and clinician-safe operations.
• Clinical usability constrains Zero Trust progress. Selective MFA adoption, coarse access roles, and manual exceptions persist as organizations balance security with care delivery, highlighting the need for a healthcare-specific framework rather than generic Zero Trust checklists.

"Healthcare is at a critical inflection point," said Steve Lieber, Executive Chairman of the Alliance for Smart Healthcare Excellence. "Digital health, AI, and expanded data exchange are accelerating faster than most security operating models can adapt. HC-ZTMM™ exists because healthcare leaders need an objective, clinically grounded assessment that shows not just whether Zero Trust controls exist, but how well they work together under real clinical conditions, right now, not someday."

The HC-ZTMM™ was designed through a rigorous, multi-stakeholder process that blends Zero Trust principles with healthcare realities, including non-human identity sprawl, IoMT environments, and patient-safety-first design constraints.

"From the outset, the goal was rigor and practicality," said Frank Nydam, Executive Director, Healthcare Strategy at Zscaler. "The assessment development process brought together security architecture expertise with frontline healthcare perspectives. That combination is what makes HC-ZTMM™ so robust, it evaluates maturity across identity, data, infrastructure, and experience using real-world signals, not theoretical ideals."

Free assessment for qualified healthcare providers

The HC-ZTMM™ assessment is free for qualified healthcare provider organizations, enabling health systems to establish a baseline, compare against peers, and prioritize investments that move them from static, policy-driven Zero Trust toward continuous, intelligence-driven enforcement aligned with clinical care.

Healthcare leaders can learn more or request the assessment by visiting:
https://smarthospital.ai/healthcare-zero-trust-maturation-model/

For ViVE26 attendees:

• Visit the Alliance for Smart Healthcare Excellence at Booth 630 V

Media Contact:
Lorren Pettit
e. [email protected]
p. 615-674-4001

About the Alliance for Smart Healthcare Excellence

The Alliance for Smart Healthcare Excellence is a healthcare research and thought-leadership organization focused on helping providers, vendors, and policymakers advance smart care through evidence-based maturity models, benchmarking, and executive-level insight.

SOURCE The Alliance for Smart Healthcare Excellence