Data Breaches Cost Healthcare Industry $6.5 Billion
The frequency of data breaches in healthcare organizations has increased by 32 percent, with hospitals and healthcare providers averaging four data breaches, says a report on the subject.
The second annual benchmark study by Ponemon Institute found that employee negligence is the primary culprit. According to 41 percent of healthcare organizations surveyed, data breaches involving protected health information (PHI) are caused by sloppy employee mistakes. Half of respondents do nothing to protect mobile devices that are in use in 80 percent of healthcare organizations, the report says. Based on the experience of the healthcare organizations surveyed, data breaches could be costing the U.S. healthcare industry an estimated $4.2 billion to $8.1 billion annually—an average of $6.5 billion—enough to hire more than 81,000 registered nurses nationwide or fund 216 million flu vaccinations.