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'Holy trinity' makes hospital data especially enticing to identity thieves

EHR Connection, May 12, 2008

Hospital data breaches exposed more than 1.5 million names attached to patient health information between 2006 and 2007, according to an April 29 article in Medill Reports.

This is among the findings of a patient security data survey conducted jointly by Kroll’s Fraud Solutions in Nashville, TN, and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), according to the article. The numbers reflect everything from inadvertent access by hospital staff to more malevolent activities.

Hospital data is more susceptible to identify theft than other types of information, Brian Lapidus chief operating officer of Kroll’s, told Medill Reports. Kroll’s, founded in 1972, is a global risk consulting company.

Lapidus described an individual’s name, Social Security number, and date of birth as “the holy trinity.” With the addition of patient health and billing information usually included in their records, “that trinity is on steroids,” he said.

Click here to read the Medill Reports article.

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