The Alliance for Smart Healthcare Excellence Teaming with Zscaler to Launch Development of Zero Trust Maturation Model (ZTMM) to Safeguard Smart Care

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Sept. 30, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Alliance for Smart Healthcare Excellence (the Alliance) today announced that Zscaler, Inc. will sponsor the development of the Zero Trust Maturation Model (ZTMM), a groundbreaking framework designed to help healthcare organizations protect patients, data, and operations against today's escalating cyber threats.

Hospitals and health systems face an unprecedented convergence of risks. Beyond ransomware and phishing attacks, vulnerabilities introduced through third-party software solutions and supply chain dependencies have emerged as some of the most dangerous threats. At the same time, the explosive growth of smart care technology and AI, from advanced diagnostics to virtual care platforms, is expanding the digital footprint that must be secured. Taken together, these realities make clear that incremental or compliance-driven security approaches are no longer sufficient. A zero trust posture toward cyber threats, where uncompromising standards define every aspect of protection, is now essential to ensure resilience and patient safety.

ZTMM provides a staged framework enabling healthcare leaders to benchmark current capabilities, prioritize investments, and progress toward uncompromising resilience. It emphasizes the dual goals of modernizing and transforming critical infrastructure while enabling the safe deployment of digital health innovations. By sponsoring the Alliance's efforts, Zscaler is helping ensure that provider organizations have a structured, vendor-neutral roadmap for advancing their cybersecurity maturity.

"Zero trust is not just a philosophy, it is a necessity in today's healthcare environment," said Tamer Baker, Healthcare CTO, Zscaler. "While there is a great deal of confusion and marketecture surrounding the concept of zero trust, ZTMM will serve as a clear and actionable model to help healthcare leaders cut through the noise. We are proud to sponsor the creation of ZTMM and help advance zero trust adoption as hospitals and health systems grapple with modernizing their defenses while ensuring that patients, data, and operations remain secure, no matter the underlying technology environment."

ZTMM is also notable as the first extension of the Smart Hospital Maturation Model (SHMM), released in 2024 by the Alliance. While SHMM focuses on guiding hospitals toward digital transformation, ZTMM establishes a parallel roadmap for cybersecurity maturity that applies broadly, whether in fully modernized smart hospitals or in organizations still operating on legacy systems.

"The Alliance is grateful for Zscaler's sponsorship of this important initiative," said Steve Lieber, CEO of the Alliance. "Their support allows us to bring together experts from across healthcare and technology to create a vendor-neutral cybersecurity roadmap leveraging zero trust principles, urgently needed by hospitals and health systems everywhere."

Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and other healthcare security leaders interested in learning more about the ZTMM effort are encouraged to contact Lorren Pettit of the Alliance at [email protected].

ZTMM is scheduled for release at ViVE 2026, where it will be introduced as a new benchmark for healthcare cybersecurity maturity.

About the Alliance for Smart Healthcare Excellence
The Alliance for Smart Healthcare Excellence is an independent, vendor-neutral organization dedicated to advancing the adoption of smart care technologies across healthcare. Through the development of maturation models, benchmarking studies, and thought leadership initiatives, the Alliance equips providers, investors, and technology partners with frameworks that promote innovation, resilience, and measurable value in healthcare delivery.

Learn more at smarthospital.ai.

Media Contact:

Maddison Brady
(800) 356-8048
[email protected]

SOURCE The Alliance for Smart Healthcare Excellence