LeadingAge New York Adviser Winter Vol. 1 | Page 12

Feature
Bad People Want Your Patients’ Data!

C

ybercrime in the healthcare industry has become a complex social and
political issue, with data security breaches making news every day. Both the
private and public sectors are having data security challenges. Nobody is immune.
There have been highly visible private attacks, like University of California, Los
Angeles (UCLA) Health Systems, Accenture, and Blue Cross and Blue Shield. The
government is just as susceptible. Remember the Department of Defense hack
and Healthcare.gov breaches? The financial costs and damages to reputations
are massive to the government, healthcare organizations, and patients. More
importantly, individuals are affected financially and emotionally from this loss of
privacy.
Here are some numbers to put things in perspective:
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Over the next five years, data breaches will cost U.S. health systems $305 billion
in cumulative lifetime revenue.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, nearly 1.6
million people had their medical information stolen from health care providers
last year.
According to Accenture, it is estimated that one in 13 patients, approximately
25 million people, will have personal information stolen over the next five years.

While data security breaches used to be what happened in other industries,
hackers are now selling stolen health information for several times the amount
of stolen credit cards. As the health care industry becomes more reliant on
Information Technology (IT), a single data security breach
can cripple a facility.
Appropriately, healthcare is held to a very high standard
for information systems and data security. The challenge to
the security and peace-of-mind a carefully
protect and secure data is overwhelming for organizations
to resolve. In order to compete in a very competitive
planned security strategy delivers.
marketplace, healthcare organizations must expand their
abilities to exchange and use data, and embrace the new
technologies that enable telehealth and telemedicine.
However, they must protect sensitive patient data while maintaining an aggressive
cyber posture against threats. Not an easy task.

No company has ever regretted paying for

Skimping when it comes to security never has a positive impact on the bottom line.
You get what you pay for. No company has ever regretted paying for the security
and peace-of-mind a carefully planned security strategy delivers. The “bad guys” will
always try to be a step ahead, but, as long as you place an emphasis on keeping the
most up-to-date precautions in place, and encourage best practices and employee
involvement in the ongoing protection of company assets, you can take the mystery
out of data security and maintain the upper hand.
Dennis O’Connell, director of healthcare solutions, Custom Computer
Specialists can be reached at www.customtech.com.
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Adviser a publication of LeadingAge New York | Winter 2015