While HIPAA Journal has reported an ascending trend over nearly the past decade in healthcare data breaches, 2019 has seen the industry reporting record numbers.

A historic number of records have been exposed daily, trending at a rate of one (occasionally even two) data breaches per day. The resulting 31.6 million healthcare records breached from January 2019 to June 2019 is double the number exposed for all of 2018. 

Since then July and August claimed gold and silver medals, respectively, for the worst months in history for healthcare data breaches; and September reported an increase of 168 percent from the month prior in healthcare records compromised, despite a decrease in breaches.

The sheer volume is staggering and puts healthcare organizations at risk of potentially substantial fines if the data breaches result in HIPAA privacy rules violations.

But what does it really mean for individual patients who have been impacted?

In a recent study on the types of information compromised in healthcare data breaches, of breaches analyzed, researchers found that:

• 66 percent exposed sensitive demographic information including Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and driver’s licenses numbers.
• 71 percent exposed demographic or financial information including payment data.

According to the study the largest risk for compromised individuals is having their data used by hackers to commit fraud or identity theft. In fact, only 16 percent of breaches included in the study exposed medical information without compromising demographic or financial data.

This risk assessment is particularly noteworthy as during the first half of this year hacking incidents accounted for 60 percent of all incidents and 88 percent of breached records according to the 2019 Mid-Year Data Breach Barometer Report.

These findings reiterate an important aspect of cybercrime for the average person that our firm has previously covered – majority of data breaches are financially driven.

Although considerable reporting on 2019 breaches center on the overwhelming industry total, focus of the significance ought to be on the individual level – the type of information that is being targeted and the motivation for accessing it.

Healthcare providers and third parties should take precautions to safeguard your sensitive data and have legal obligations to do so. However, with an industry-targeting trend this substantial its valuable to take steps yourself to help keep personal data secure.

Below are new and previously shared cybersecurity tips, some from Verizon and some from cybersecurity companies Norton and McAfee.

• Update your anti-virus and other software regularly.
• Vigilantly and frequently check your bank account and credit activity.
• Be smart about passwords. Make sure they’re strong, don’t use the same one on every site, and change your passwords regularly. Password management applications can help.
• If you have an account with an organization that has been the victim of a big security breach, change your password and find out what information could be at risk. If you suspect data was compromised, place a fraud alert on your credit to ensure new or recent requests undergo scrutiny.

Has your privacy been violated? Contact Keller Grover for a free consultation. During more than 25 years of litigating, the lawyers at Keller Grover have secured billions for their clients.