After Chinese hackers looted one of the largest U.S. hospital operators of 4.5 million patient records last month, it is clear some alarming trends have already gained traction…
- Cyber criminals see the $3 trillion U.S. healthcare industry as far more lucrative than simply stealing credit card information.
- It’s relatively easy for hackers to penetrate poorly protected healthcare networks and computer systems to plunder large amounts of data.
- The percentage of healthcare organizations that have reported a criminal cyber attack has doubled to 40 percent in 2013, from 20 percent in 2009.
The data for sale on the black market includes names, birth dates, policy numbers, diagnosis codes and billing information. With this data, fake IDs can be created to buy medical equipment and drugs that can be resold. Fraudulent medical claims can also be submitted. The Medicare program alone has lost over $6 billion in the last two years to fraudulent billing.
The skyrocketing rate of healthcare fraud is the primary reason the federal government is stepping up HIPAA enforcement, which includes audits of internal compliance measures.
Does your organization handle protected health information? Do you have everything in place ─ systems, tools and plans ─ to reduce risk? Have you done an assessment to identify what needs attention? DataLink can help you get where you need to be. Contact us today at 410.729.0440 or sales@DataLinkTech.com.
