Healthcare cybersecurity · Compliance & risk
Clearwater
Clearwater provides healthcare cybersecurity and compliance programs - HIPAA and HITRUST-aligned risk analysis, incident response planning, and related managed support for hospitals and provider organizations. It is not an EHR or IoMT-only device scanner.
Strong fit
- Health systems that need HIPAA and HITRUST risk analysis, incident response planning, and ongoing compliance help from people who know clinical settings
- Security and compliance leaders who want frameworks built for healthcare, not a generic compliance add-on
- Buyers comparing healthcare security and compliance partners, not tools that only scan medical devices
Weak fit
- Outpatient groups that only need a simple spreadsheet to track business associate agreements
- Teams that only want to find connected medical devices, without compliance work
- Buyers looking for a consumer telehealth product or an EHR
Bottom line
Clearwater is worth using for mid-sized provider groups and health systems that still treat HIPAA risk analysis, incident response, and vendor reviews as rushed yearly projects. It suits organizations where compliance and security will share one risk list. Hospitals whose main gap is a medical device inventory should look at Cylera or Claroty.
Score breakdown
Weights: Outcomes 35% · Product 30% · Implementation 20% · Pricing clarity 15%.
Clearwater sells healthcare cybersecurity and compliance programs. Its work includes risk analysis, meeting HITRUST and HIPAA requirements, incident response planning, and ongoing support.
Its clients are hospitals and mid-sized provider organizations that need reviews grounded in clinical settings, not a generic compliance template.
Results look strongest when compliance and security teams share one list of risks and close findings on a schedule. The alternative is ending the work with a binder on a shelf.
Starting a program involves workshops and software, not only installing network monitoring. Pricing combines custom services with software packages.
Clearwater's services and software put it beside Fortified for managed healthcare security and beside Censinet for vendor risk. It focuses less on listing medical devices than Cylera or Claroty.
Fortified fits buyers who mainly want a managed security provider, and Censinet fits when vendor risk is the bottleneck. Claroty or Cylera fit when a device inventory is the main gap.
Among the cybersecurity tools we review, Clearwater scores near the top with Fortified for buyers led by compliance.
Competitor landscape
| Vendor | Overall | Ease of implementation |
|---|---|---|
| Clearwater | 7.6 | 7.2 |
| Fortified Health Security | 7.6 | 7.2 |
| Defendify | 7.6 | 7.4 |
| Censinet | 7.5 | 7.1 |
| Pondurance | 7.5 | 7.2 |
| Compliancy Group | 7.3 | 7.5 |
| Meditology Services | 7.1 | 7.0 |
| Abyde | 7.0 | 7.5 |
| First Health Advisory | 6.9 | 7.0 |
| Cyber Salus | 6.7 | 6.6 |
Pricing
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Model | Custom packages of software and services for risk analysis, incident response, and ongoing compliance help. |
| What usually drives cost | How much the risk analysis covers, how many entities you have, whether Clearwater runs the tools or you do, and whether incident response on retainer is included. |
| What to ask before you buy | The yearly cost for your number of entities, what is software and what is services, and who fixes findings after the first review. |
| Published pricing | Clearwater does not publish prices. Expect a custom quote. |
Prerequisites for purchase
| Need | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| What you need to get Clearwater to function | |
| Named security and compliance leads who can close findings | Reviews with no owner end up unused. |
| A list of the systems, vendors, and patient data flows covered | A vague scope produces vague risk ratings. |
| An executive who will fund fixes and approve downtime | Findings never close without time set aside for changes. |
| Agreement on which standards apply (HIPAA, HITRUST, or both) before kickoff | Changing the target midway wastes the work. |
| A draft list of who to contact, and in what order, during an incident | Incident plans fail when no one knows who calls whom. |
| What will maximize your value | |
| Track serious open findings against their closing dates, not the number of slides | A thick binder is not a result. |
| Use the same risk list for vendor reviews and reports to the board | Separate spreadsheets bring the problem back. |
| Hold practice incident drills in the first six months | Plans no one has practiced fail on weekends. |
| Drop duplicate compliance tools after one month of running both | Entering everything twice doubles the cost. |
| Send clinical and IT leaders a quarterly summary of fixes | Hidden backlogs show up during audits. |
| Deal-breakers | |
| You only need a one-page business associate checklist, with no plan to fix anything. | |
| No executive will pay to fix findings. | |
| You will not share your list of systems or vendors. | |
| You expect a medical device scanner, with no compliance work. | |
| Your legal team will not approve a business associate agreement or sharing risk documents. | |
Value creation time frame
| # | Stage | Typical range |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plan and kickoff | 2-4 weeks. Hold workshops, list systems and vendors, and choose standards. |
| 2 | Assessment | 4-10 weeks. Analyze risk, find gaps, and draft incident response materials. |
| 3 | Start fixing | Ongoing. Owners close serious findings on a schedule. |
| 4 | Routine | Quarterly. Practice drills, vendor reviews, and reports to the board. |
Leadership
Methodology
| Weight | Factor | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| 35% | Customer outcomes | Whether buyers get measurable operational or clinical-workflow results after go-live |
| 30% | Product | Capability depth, reliability, and fit for the job the category buys |
| 20% | Implementation | How hard it is to stand up, integrate, train, and stabilize |
| 15% | Pricing clarity | Whether a buyer can model total cost without a mystery quote |
| Label | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Highly recommend | Strong outcomes and product with manageable caveats |
| Recommend | Solid fit for the right buyer; know the tradeoffs |
| Conditional | Only with a specific use case or heavy caveats |
| Not recommended | Avoid for most buyers in this category |
Read our full methodology for how we weight scores and assign recommend labels.