Patient Records: A Crisis Waiting to Happen

The question isn’t if there will soon be a major security breach involving patient records, it’s when.

A new survey of 65 health care organizations, conducted by the Ponemon Institute and commissioned by ID Experts, a provider of data security software, finds that not only are breaches continuing to happen on a regular basis, they are costing these organizations on average $2 million each over a two-year period.

That may sound like a big number, but it’s actually relatively small given the number of breaches reported. That suggests that it’s only a matter of time before a major breach results in millions of dollars in lost income and revenue for health care organizations.

Click through for results from a patient privacy and data security study, conducted by the Ponemon Institute and commissioned by ID Experts.

Almost a third have had five or more.

Most of the breaches are a manageable size.

Seems to be an all-or-nothing proposition.

Accidents waiting to happen.

Audits and patient complaints rank pretty high.

Scores are not as high as one might hope.

Things appear to be a little shaky.

There is no quick fix.

There is a very limited number of data guardians.

The answers are not too surprising.

It’s not my job.

Lack of budget and training top the list.

It’s not inconsequential.

The damage can be extensive to both intangible and tangible assets.

Achieving compliance doesn’t mean achieving security.