Posts Tagged ‘ Medical Data Breach ’

Medical and mobile: Convenience trumps security

Tweet Say goodbye to bulky manila folders. Today’s healthcare organizations are zipping through medical histories and writing prescriptions using mobile devices. But the new found convenience hasn’t been without cost – not just in implementing new systems and tools but in losing data when security measures aren’t implemented too. A recent study suggests that adopting [...][ READ MORE ]

The RX for medical breaches

Tweet It’s no secret that healthcare data breaches are steadily on the rise.  As technology has modernized healthcare, it has also made healthcare more vulnerable to hackers, fraudsters, and costly bad luck (such as when a lost portable hard drive exposes the personal health records of thousands of patients.) The threat is real, so how [...][ READ MORE ]

A billion dollar crime that needs an urgent response

According to Ponemon Institute’s Second Annual Survey on Medical Identity Theft, we estimate that more than 1.49 million Americans have been targeted by this crime. With an average cost per victim of $20,663 the total national economic impact of medical identity theft crimes is more than $30 billion.[ READ MORE ]

Consumers yawn at healthcare fraud

Today's headlines trumpet yet another high-profile medical data breach, this time through Health Net. This corporate catastrophe reminds us of the increasing hazard of medical fraud, which is the most expensive and time consuming to resolve of all types of identity theft . The second annual National Study on Medical Identity Theft, fielded by the Ponemon Institute provides further insight into this pervasive problem and how it affects consumers.[ READ MORE ]

Ensuring compliance with new healthcare legislation

Tweet Legislation has been introduced in Congress to crack down on Medicare and Medicaid fraud. This legislation comes at a time when incidents of medical fraud are on the rise and the Obama Administration is poised to role out sweeping healthcare reform.  Medical fraud is estimated to cost the U.S. health care system $100 billion [...][ READ MORE ]

Help your customers protect their PHI

Recently I addressed the importance of having plans in place to protect personal health information in light of the sharp increase in healthcare data breaches. Unfortunately, research studies are finding that incidents of fraud resulting from exposed healthcare data are on the rise.[ READ MORE ]

Do your business associates know how they will be affected by HITECH?

Just as the healthcare industry came up to speed on the regulations defined in The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health ("HITECH") Act, additional modifications are being proposed. These proposed rules focus on expanding obligations and penalties for covered entities (CEs) to now include business associates (BAs). So why is this significant? [ READ MORE ]

Warning: Medical data breaches are on the rise

According to a recent study by the Identity Theft Resource Center, data breaches in the healthcare sector are occurring at a higher rate than in other industries. The study found that of the 385 data breaches that occurred in the U.S. in the first half of 2010, 30% of those affected were healthcare providers. In comparison, data breaches reported in banking and other financial institutions for the same time period totaled 10%. What is the cause of this large discrepancy between industries?[ READ MORE ]