• Blog
  • Services
    • PHIshMD Ongoing Training
    • HIPAA Compliance
    • Discover Vulnerabilities to Patient PHI
  • Store
    • HIPAA Secure Now Service Store
  • Contact Us
    • Sales Inquiry
    • Customer Support
  • Resources
    • Free Healthcare Security Check Up Quiz
    • HIPAA Compliance Requirements | A Guide
    • Webinars & Downloadable Content
    • Use our free Breach Cost Calculator
    • HIPAA Secured Seal
    • In-Email Training & Analysis | Catch Phish

Call us at: 877-275-4545

Client or Partner? Login here
HIPAA Secure Now!HIPAA Secure Now!
  • Blog
  • Services
    • PHIshMD Ongoing Training
    • HIPAA Compliance
    • Discover Vulnerabilities to Patient PHI
  • Store
    • HIPAA Secure Now Service Store
  • Contact Us
    • Sales Inquiry
    • Customer Support
  • Resources
    • Free Healthcare Security Check Up Quiz
    • HIPAA Compliance Requirements | A Guide
    • Webinars & Downloadable Content
    • Use our free Breach Cost Calculator
    • HIPAA Secured Seal
    • In-Email Training & Analysis | Catch Phish

IBM Says that 2015 is the “Year of the Healthcare Breach”

December 22, 2015 Posted by Jonathan Krasner HIPAA, Risk Assessment No Comments

At the end of the year all kinds of publications and organizations publish yearly summaries to review the events of the past 12 months.  Much of the time this can be positive publicity for a celebrity, firm, organization or industry.  In this case, for healthcare, it is decidedly negative.  Why has IBM made this proclamation?  According to a company report just released, over 100 million records were compromised in the first half of 2015.  In addition “healthcare ranked #1 in terms of records compromised, with nearly 34 percent of all records compromised across all industries”.  Part of this is due to the fact that breaches are up overall, and healthcare is receiving its “fair share” of the breaches committed.  But there is more to it than that.

It turns out that cybercriminals are learning that medical data is the most lucrative out there.  It can be monetized in many different ways.  CIO magazine says “health records are the new credit cards”.  Reports vary, but consensus is that health records are worth 10 to 50 times what a credit card on the black market.  Also, according to a 2014 report from cybersecurity firm BitSight,  the health care industry has been lagging behind when it comes to security effectiveness.  The combination of valuable data and lack of security effectiveness is why the healthcare industry is facing such a big crisis when it comes to securing electronic Protected Healthcare Information (ePHI).

CyberSecurity Issues can affect financial standing

Moody’s, the credit rating firm, also recently came out with a report on a related issue – credit worthiness.  Moody’s assigns credit ratings to organizations, which affects the ability to attract financing and interest rate paid on loans.  According to Moody’s Jim Hempstead, “While we do not explicitly incorporate cyber risk as a principal credit factor today, our fundamental credit analysis incorporates numerous stress-testing scenarios, and a cyber event could be the trigger for one of those stress scenarios.”  Organizations are well advised to take a look their cyberliability and take necessary precautions such as performing Risk Assessments and procuring a cybersecurity insurance policy.

Cost to Patients

Of course, the real cost of a data breach is borne by patients.  According to Becker’s Hospital Review, the average cost of a HIPAA related breach to an individual is about $19,000.  These costs can show up in many different ways.  Patients can suffer direct financial loss as a result of theft from bank accounts and credit cards.  Credit ratings can also be damaged resulting in significant time and expense on the part of the patient for remediation.  Thieves will also use false medical records to obtain care.  A Wall Street Journal article highlights the plight of Kathleen Meiners whose son suffers from Downs Syndrome and was such a victim.  Ms.  Meiners spent months fighting collection notices to fix his medical records.

Reputational Harm

A data breach can always come back to haunt a practice.  All patients that have data breached are required by HIPAA to receive notices.   However breaches over 500 records must publicized and divulged on the HHS “Wall of Shame”.  Almost half of patients who participated in a Ponemon Institute survey said they would switch providers if their medical records were stolen.  Here is a quote from one such patient, affected by a breach in Alabama:  “You go into the doctors office trusting the doctor that you’re going to be taken care of, and then the next thing you know, all your personal information has just been thrown out into the wind,” said Jonathan Overbey, a patient affected by an incident at American Family Care. “Now I’ve got to spend a lot of time and trouble that I don’t have, in order to keep an eye on this,” said Overbey.

The Bottom Line

The bottom line on all this is that cybersecurity (or the lack thereof) can affect your bottom line.  Don’t ignore the risks associated with protecting the medical data you are entrusted with.  You already provide clinical care – provide the proper “record care” to the medical data in your practice to avoid potential costly, undesirable outcomes down the road.

Tags: BreachHIPAA FineRisk Assessment
No Comments
Share
0

You also might be interested in

Introducing HIPAA Secure Now!

Feb 13, 2011

We are proud to announce the launch of the HIPAA[...]

Why perform a Risk Assessment?

Feb 15, 2011

A Risk Assessment is required in order to comply with[...]

Huge security breach fines coming in 2011

Feb 21, 2011

According the Health Data Management magazine, The HHS Office for[...]

Leave a Reply Cancel Reply

Recent Posts

  • HIPAA’s Role in Software Support
  • Data Privacy Week
  • HIPAA: Text Messaging and Chat Services
  • Cybersecurity is Vital for Healthcare Organizations
  • Social Security Scam

Recent Comments

  • Milan on PHI or PII – What’s the Difference?
  • Automatic Backlinks on Free HIPAA Security Training!
  • Lisa Porter on Free HIPAA Security Training!
  • Roseanne ruiz on Health Apps & HIPAA
  • Roseanne ruiz on PHI or PII – What’s the Difference?

Archives

  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011

Categories

  • Backup & Disaster Recovery
  • Business Associates
  • Client News
  • Download
  • Healthcare Industry
  • HIPAA
  • HIPAA Audits
  • HIPAA Violations
  • HSN News
  • Legal
  • MACRA
  • Policies and Procedures
  • Press Release
  • Remote Workforce
  • Risk Assessment
  • Scams
  • Security
  • Security Reminders
  • Security Training
  • Telehealth
  • Uncategorized
  • Webinar
  • Website

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Contact Us

  • HIPAA Secure Now
  • 55 Madison Ave, Suite 400 Morristown, NJ 07960
  • (877) 275 - 4545
  • info@hipaasecurenow.com

Find us on Social Media

Recent Posts

  • HIPAA’s Role in Software Support January 31, 2023
  • Data Privacy Week January 24, 2023
  • HIPAA: Text Messaging and Chat Services January 17, 2023
  • Cybersecurity is Vital for Healthcare Organizations January 10, 2023
  • Social Security Scam January 3, 2023

Subscribe to our Newsletter

  • Hidden

© 2023 · HIPAA Secure Now!

Prev Next