Repeat data breaches among health care orgs down

(HealthDay)—Most health care organizations report having at least one recent data breach, but the number of organizations with more than five breaches has decreased, according to an article published April 8 in Medical Economics.

The author of the article, Chris Mazzolini, writes that the Ponemon Institute's fourth annual benchmark study on patient privacy and data security gathered information from 388 participants of 91 health care organizations. The data represented heath care networks, integrated delivery systems, and stand-alone hospitals and clinics.

According to Mazzolini, the results of the survey indicate that 90 percent of all health care organizations had at least one data breach in the last two years, with 38 percent reporting more than five breaches. These results represent an improvement from the prior year when 45 percent of organizations had more than five breaches. Respondents said that they believe the risks to patient information have increased, largely because of participation in accountable care organizations. The majority of respondents (70 percent) said that patient information is at risk because of insecure information exchange between providers and the government; patient data existing in insecure databases; and patient registration on insecure websites.

"Health care reform is seen as a risk to patient information because of insecure websites, databases, and health information exchanges," Mazzolini writes.

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