{"id":10869,"date":"2014-01-19T17:00:44","date_gmt":"2014-01-19T22:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.poweryourpractice.com\/?p=10869"},"modified":"2025-07-01T11:03:00","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T11:03:00","slug":"security-breaches-on-the-rise-in-2014-are-you-ready","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/security-breaches-on-the-rise-in-2014-are-you-ready\/","title":{"rendered":"Security Breaches on the Rise in 2014: Are You Ready?"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you thought this would be the year securing patient data would finally become easier, you may be in for an unpleasant surprise. A recent Experian report<\/a> predicts the healthcare industry will see more large-scale security breaches affecting patient privacy in 2014.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Michael Bruemmer, Vice President of Experian\u2019s Data Breach Resolution, the sheer size of the healthcare industry is what makes it vulnerable to security risks.<\/p>\n

If you add all currently insured patients to the 7 million incoming patients resulting from the new Health Insurance Exchanges, then couple that with the haphazard manner in which Healthcare.gov was implemented, you create a larger area potentially vulnerable to attack.<\/p>\n

At Experian, which provides recovery services for companies dealing with personal data loss, 46% of breaches in 2013 were healthcare-related. In fact, their remediation group worked on more than 2,200 healthcare breaches in 2013, compared to 1,700 in 2012.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to look at the most common occurrences of data breaches<\/a>, so you can take steps to prevent them from impacting your practice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Preventing Breaches<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Patient information is a valuable commodity in today\u2019s fraud market. Personal records suitable for use in identity theft can be worth between $10 and $28 depending on the income status of the victim. When enriched with health data, the value of an identity data set jumps to almost $50 per record because it can be used for medical and insurance fraud \u2013 a far more lucrative business.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, in most cases, data breaches have less to do with advanced hacking techniques and more to do with lost laptops, failing to shred paper records and easily avoidable employee blunders.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In three out of 10 breaches Experian serviced last year, most errors were tracked to sloppy system administrator password practices like neglecting to change a default password or carelessly sharing PINs.<\/p>\n

So what data protection methods can you implement to better protect your patients? There are several steps and precautions your practice can carry out, including:<\/p>\n