Health Information Management

Breaches cost hospitals $6 billion each year

HIPAA Weekly Advisor, November 8, 2010

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Hospitals spend $6 billion annually because of data breaches, according to an upcoming report.

The Ponemon Institute plans to release its latest research looking at how hospitals handle medical data this week, the institute announced.

Some other Ponemon findings will include:

  • Hospitals are not protecting patient data
  • Hospitals admit to being vulnerable to a data breach
  • Breaches of patient information occur frequently and often go unreported, putting patients' privacy at risk
  • A small percentage of healthcare organizations rely on security technologies to prevent and detect data breach incidents
  • Federal regulations--HITECH--have not improved the safety of patient records

Last year, Ponemon released its fifth annual study on the cost of data breaches – “2009 Annual Study: Cost of a Data Breach: Understanding Financial Impact, Customer Turnover, and Preventative Solutions.”

That study found the average cost for a compromised record to be approximately $144 in indirect costs and $60 of direct costs, for a total cost of $204.



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