Healthcare Data Breaches on the Rise

Health Care Data Breaches

– The United States Department of Health and Human reported recently that laptop theft is the number one cause of health data breaches.  Last year alone, the United States reported 275,000 cases of health data infringement. Health data theft is a different breed of identity theft that can result in fraudulent acquirement of prescription drugs and medical equipment.

Reports have surfaced that the average cost to victims of health data theft is more than $12,000 greater than the average cost of general identity theft. Data theft has cost the American health care profession $12 billion over the past two years. Despite fervent efforts by state and federal legislatures, the cost to victims continues to rise.  

With the growing problem of medical data theft, thousands of patients are surprised to find their prescriptions suddenly depleted. Medical data thieves are eager to rob others of their prescriptions in order to obtain the drugs for resale.  With dependence and street value of prescription drugs on the rise, many crooks are stealing opiate prescriptions, using every available refill and leaving the innocent pain-ridden patient without his necessary prescriptions.