ELSO supercharges their data security with Burwood Managed Services
When intensive care units need advanced support for their most vulnerable heart and lung patients, they rely on ECMO, or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. ECMO provides an artificial means of oxygenating the blood and removing carbon dioxide when the body’s own organs cannot function. The Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO) is the world’s largest ECMO patient registry to support best practices, clinical guidelines, data analysis, and community development for this life-saving procedure. “The whole mission of ELSO is to improve the delivery and care given with ECMO and save more lives,” says Steve Hyer, Director of Technology.
Since it was established in 1989, ELSO has tracked over 260,000 submitted cases, with nearly 15,000 total cases so far in 2025. Seven hundred member organizations share their limited, deidentified data and resources to advance knowledge and practice– which means that ELSO takes data privacy and security very seriously.
A Small Organization with a Huge Impact
Originally affiliated with the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, ELSO is now an independent nonprofit. Its staff has to manage the needs of member health providers from all over the world, with varying privacy regulations and security concerns. In 2021, as the organization grew, they realized they needed more support and reached out to the Burwood Group, who showed an understanding of their needs as a small but growing organization.
Through Burwood, ELSO hired Thomas Bergman as their virtual Chief Information Security Officer (vCISO) to direct strategy, standardize their security profile, and adapt to changing regulatory environments. Hyer says, “Thomas speaks this language and has the expertise, so he can help us from a policy and practice standpoint. This is absolutely a strategic business priority for the organization but it makes sense to break it down into manageable pieces, like annual risk assessments and quarterly check ins. It’s the right thing to do.” Bergman compares himself to the coach of a sports team, adding that “you can’t relax in cyber security. That’s when mistakes happen.”
““Burwood helps us move the needle on security. They save us time and give us peace of mind. We feel a hundred percent that we’re getting the value that we need.””
Continuous Improvement with BMS
Security standards are never a-one-and-done procedure but a series of constant incremental improvements, as conditions change. When COVID hit and demand for ECMO surged, ELSO adapted. As members requested new procedures, they adjusted. In 2025, ELSO added Burwood Managed Services to their portfolio to manage their help desk and IT administration.
By outsourcing some key services, this small organization has exceeded their own expectations, which is exactly what Burwood intended. “Our job is to help the client do more than they think they can,” says Bergman. “Some of our security improvements seemed unattainable just four or five years ago. And now, we're there. We're improving our annual scores and we have the policies and documentation to show how important this is to us,” Hyer says.
Some of the biggest benefits ELSO has seen so far:
Increased confidence from member organizations in ELSO’s security posture, with annual risk assessments that show improving scores
Documented benchmarks set to recognized global standards like the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)’s Cybersecurity Framework 2.0, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe.
Set guidelines for using ELSO’s ever-growing dataset, available to member organizations to analyze patient outcomes
Added in-house staff training on security procedures and outsourced IT tickets
Since working with Bergman and Burwood ELSO has had no data breaches and they want to keep it that way. “We set up security protocols in order to establish trust between partners: our member organizations trust us to serve their needs and we trust Burwood to help us support them,” says Peter Rycus, Executive Director of ELSO. “Our most important metric is that our members continue to have confidence in us, so they can deliver the best possible outcomes for their patients.”
The Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO) is an international nonprofit consortium to share data, advance research, and establish guidelines for Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO).
Defining Key Terms:
What is ECMO? Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) uses an artificial heart and lung to support the body when a person’s own organs aren’t able to do so. It can assist patients with severe heart and lung conditions, including cardiac arrest and respiratory failure.
About Burwood:
Burwood’s Managed Services delivered operational excellence and tangible ROI, enabling our client to focus on strategic growth.
Burwood’s Cybersecurity Consulting empowers organizations to stay ahead of evolving threats, turning risk into resilience with tailored strategies and expert guidance
