More Data Access Means More Risk of Breach
Greater access to healthcare data increases the risk of a security breach, according to a recent report.
Larger hospitals and teaching-focused facilities typically provide greater access to healthcare data and are therefore more at risk, according to a recent study published by JAMA Internal Medicine. (An abstract is available online at: http://bit.ly/2oJEaFv.)
The researchers note that there is a “fundamental trade-off” when providing access to health data for hospital quality improvement efforts, research needs, and education requirements. More access means more opportunities for a data breach, they say.
That conclusion comes from an analysis of information from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on reported data breaches from late 2009 to 2016. There were 257 reported data breaches in that time frame, occurring at 216 hospitals. Thirty-three of those hospitals also were breached at least twice, with more than one-third of the facilities classified as a major teaching hospital.
The median number of beds at the breached facilities was 262, according to the study. For non-breached facilities, the median number of beds was 134.
Similarly, 37% of the breached organizations were major teaching facilities, while 9% of the non-breached hospitals were classified as the same.
Greater access to healthcare data increases the risk of a security breach, according to a recent report.
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