July is the first month in 2017 to have hacking incidents outweigh insider breaches to patient data in both frequency and number of affected patient records. While hacking accounted for almost half of total breach incidents this month, the severity and potential damage of insider threats to patient data should not be overlooked, with one incident going undetected for 14 years.
Celebrities, public figures, and their family members are especially vulnerable to inappropriate accesses to their medical records, given the public’s interest in their lives and well-being. After experiencing a health crisis or death, VIPs are often thrust into the spotlight where intense media scrutiny occurs. It is their health or insurance provider’s responsibility to ensure these patients’ private medical information is protected. It is often reported that members of the media will try to pay hospital employees to sneak into a VIP’s electronic medical records to obtain private information, giving reporters the inside scoop—a serious breach of the patient’s rights under the HIPAA Privacy Rule.
In May, health data breaches continued to be disclosed at a rate of one or more per day, a trend first noted in the 2016 Annual Breach Barometer Report. If the Breach Barometer has taught us anything, it’s not a matter of “if” a healthcare organization will experience a data breach, but simply a matter of “when”. A lot of damage can be done when a breach goes for several years without detection, providing additional time for the information to be disseminated or time for malicious insiders to continue their activities. It is imperative that healthcare organizations educate themselves on what they can do to reduce their risk and detect breaches as soon as they occur.
April is the second month in which there seems to be noticeable improvement in the time it takes for healthcare organizations to report their breaches to HHS. Last month (March) HHS stepped up their enforcement by beginning to fine healthcare organizations not reporting health data breaches within the required 60-day window. It begs one to ask if healthcare organizations are becoming more diligent in responding and reporting breaches to patient data as a result of this regulatory scrutiny. Transparency about the data breaches that are plaguing the healthcare industry will help organizations and regulators to better understand the breadth of the problem as well as to determine how to best mitigate and defend institutions from becoming further victimized.
