The vulnerability of medical data is becoming more evident as the U.S. health care system moves toward use of electronic health records, according to a recent report by Kaufman, Rossin and Co., the South Florida Business Journal reports.
Key Findings
According to the report, 166 data breaches compromised the personal health information of 4.9 million patients during the first year after the HITECH Act was signed into law. The HITECH Act was part of the 2009 economic stimulus package and mandated heftier fines and reporting requirements for breaches (Miller, South Florida Business Journal, 2/23).
Among the causes of the 166 reported breaches:
Most breaches — 42 incidents — occurred through laptops. Breaches from laptops also affected 1.5 million people, more than any other breach location (Simmons, FierceEMR, 2/24).
Conclusions
Jorge Rey — study co-author and director of information security and compliance with Kaufman, Rossin and Co. — said that “many businesses are not properly prepared or are completely unaware of just how vulnerable this information is.”
He added that the HITECH Act is changing how personal health information must be protected and that companies that fail to protect such data can face “serious reputation, legal and financial repercussions” (South Florida Business Journal, 2/23).
Source: iHealthBeat
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