Research explores cybersecurity maturity, AI governance, shadow AI, agentic adoption, rural health systems, and AI risk ownership across the health industry.
BOSTON, MA, UNITED STATES, February 18, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Censinet, the leading provider of healthcare risk management solutions, will announce at ViVE 2026 findings from The 2026 Healthcare Cybersecurity Benchmarking Study, the industry’s most comprehensive peer benchmarking initiative, as well as expanded AI governance and risk management products designed to close critical gaps in AI inventory, oversight, and accountability across the health sector. Censinet executives and customers will be available at Booth #920 in South Hall, February 22–25 at ViVE 2026 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, CA, to discuss the 2026 Benchmarking Study and deliver live demonstrations of all new products. In addition, Censinet will present key findings from the 2026 Benchmarking Study live on Tuesday, February 24, from 1:35–1:55 PM PST in Data Innovation, Theatre C.
“Healthcare has built the governance scaffolding for AI, but this year’s Benchmarking Study reveals that the operational muscle, including inventory and asset management, detection methods, and clear accountability, is not keeping pace with adoption,” said Ed Gaudet, CEO and Founder of Censinet. “With 64% of healthcare organizations already experimenting with or actively deploying agentic AI, and only 30% maintaining an enterprise-wide AI inventory, the gap between AI ambition and AI governance is widening. Censinet is committed to helping the industry close that gap with solutions that move organizations from structure to execution.”
The 2026 Healthcare Cybersecurity Benchmarking Study
Roelf Kuitse, Senior Director of Customer Experience and Success at Censinet, will be joined by special guest Brian Sterud, VP and CIO at Faith Regional Health Services, to present findings and insights from the 2026 Benchmarking Study on Tuesday, February 24, from 1:35–1:55 PM PST in Data Innovation, Theatre C.
“Rural health systems face the same cyber threats and the same pressure to adopt AI as the largest health systems in the country—but we don’t have the same budgets or the same bench depth,” said Brian Sterud, VP and CIO at Faith Regional Health Services. “The Benchmarking Study gives organizations like Faith Regional something we can’t build on our own: a clear picture of where we stand relative to our peers and a roadmap for where we need to invest. This year’s findings on the AI governance gap are a wake-up call—not just for rural systems, but for the entire industry. If we’re going to adopt AI responsibly, we need the kind of peer-driven insights this study delivers to help us prioritize with confidence, not just react to the next headline.”
With a range of healthcare organizations participating in the 2026 Healthcare Cybersecurity Benchmarking Study, this year’s findings expand upon the comprehensive set of benchmarks established in the landmark 2023, 2024, and 2025 studies with enterprise assessments and peer benchmarks for the NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0 (CSF 2.0), the Healthcare and Public Health Cybersecurity Performance Goals (HPH CPGs), and the NIST AI Risk Management Framework (RMF). Like previous years, the 2026 Study also includes benchmarks for the 405(d) Health Industry Cybersecurity Practices (HICP) as well as key organizational and cybersecurity program metrics. The 2026 Healthcare Cybersecurity Benchmarking Study is delivered in partnership with American Hospital Association (AHA), Censinet, Health-ISAC, Health Sector Coordinating Council (HSCC), the Scottsdale Institute (SI), and The University of Texas at Austin.
This year’s study surfaces critical insights across cybersecurity maturity and AI governance readiness, including:
• Healthcare cybersecurity maturity remains strongest in response but weaker in prevention. Organizations have strengthened their ability to respond to cybersecurity incidents, but foundational preventative practices, governance, asset management, and supply chain preparedness, continue to lag behind.
• AI governance committees are widespread, but formal controls are not. While 70% of organizations have established AI governance committees, only 30% maintain an enterprise-wide AI inventory. Governance structures exist, but operational execution is trailing.
• The shadow AI problem is escalating. Over half of organizations have no documented methodology for detecting when vendors embed AI capabilities into existing products, creating a growing blind spot that committees and approval gates alone cannot address.
• Agentic AI adoption is accelerating ahead of governance. 64% of organizations are either experimenting with or actively using agentic AI in production, with only 8% drawing a hard line against it. Among organizations reporting that AI adoption is moving faster than desired, more than half cite better formal governance procedures as their top need.
• Organizations developing AI in-house are better positioned to manage AI risk. Organizations that develop AI systems, train models, or integrate AI technologies through APIs show significantly higher coverage in the Map and Measure functions of the NIST AI RMF, likely because AI development and integration activities require deeper engagement with model evaluation, validation, and risk measurement.
• Rural-only health systems face a significant governance gap. Rural-only organizations match their peers on NIST CSF fundamentals but are twice as likely to have no AI governance at all, underscoring the need for scalable, community-driven approaches to AI risk management.
• AI risk ownership remains fragmented. More than one in three organizations (38%) either share AI risk responsibility across multiple groups without clear escalation paths or have not clearly defined ownership at all, a structural gap that will become more acute as AI deployments scale.
“The Healthcare Cybersecurity Benchmarking Study continues to be one of the key tools available to healthcare organizations navigating an increasingly complex threat landscape,” said John Riggi, National Advisor for Cybersecurity and Risk, American Hospital Association. “As AI adoption accelerates across the sector, this year’s findings make it clear that cybersecurity and AI governance are no longer separate disciplines. Criminal and nation-state-supported cyberattacks continue to target healthcare’s critical infrastructure, and the rapid integration of AI. Without adequate oversight, rapid adoption of AI may introduce new vectors of risk to patient safety and care delivery. The Benchmarking Study equips hospitals and health systems with the peer-driven insights they need to strengthen both their cyber resilience and their AI governance posture. To defend one is to defend all.”
“The Scottsdale Institute is proud to support the 2026 Healthcare Cybersecurity Benchmarking Study, which addresses one of the most pressing challenges our member health systems face today: the intersection of cybersecurity and AI governance,” said Janet Guptill, President and CEO of the Scottsdale Institute. “Our members are on the front lines of adopting AI to improve care delivery, but this year’s findings reinforce that adoption without governance creates real risk. Peer benchmarking gives healthcare leaders—from CISOs to CEOs to board members—the trusted insights and community collaboration they need to move from aspiration to execution. Cybersecurity and AI governance are no longer just technical challenges; they are strategic imperatives that require senior leadership engagement across the enterprise.”
New AI Product Announcements
At ViVE 2026, Censinet will announce further details of the Company’s expanded AI governance and risk management capabilities, including new products designed to help healthcare organizations build and maintain enterprise-wide AI inventories, operationalize AI governance frameworks, and establish clear accountability for AI risk across clinical, technical, and operational domains. Censinet will showcase live demonstrations of these innovations at Booth #920 in South Hall throughout the show. Healthcare organizations interested in learning more about the 2026 Healthcare Cybersecurity Benchmarking Study or Censinet portfolio of products should visit Booth #920 at ViVE 2026 or contact info@censinet.com.
About Censinet
Censinet®, based in Boston, MA, takes the risk out of healthcare with Censinet RiskOps™, the industry’s first and only cloud-based risk exchange of healthcare organizations working together to manage and mitigate cyber risk. Purpose-built for healthcare, Censinet RiskOps delivers total automation across all third-party and enterprise risk management workflows and best practices. Censinet transforms cyber risk management by leveraging network scale and efficiencies, providing actionable insight, and improving overall operational effectiveness while eliminating risks to patient safety, data, and care delivery. Censinet is an American Hospital Association (AHA) Preferred Cybersecurity Provider. Find out more about Censinet and its RiskOps platform at censinet.com.
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Rita Labrado
Censinet
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