A study published in the Journal of American Medical Association (April 2015) found that almost 30 million health records nationwide were involved in criminal theft, malicious hacking or other data breaches over four years. The incidents seem to be increasing.
Compromised information included patients' names, home addresses, ages, illnesses, test results or Social Security numbers. Most involved electronic data and theft, including stolen laptops and computer thumb drives.
Over the four years, 949 data breaches were reported across the country. The numbers climbed annually, from 214 in 2010 to 265 in 2013. Nearly 60 percent involved theft.
Hackings doubled during the study, from almost 5 percent of incidents in 2010 to almost 9 percent in 2013. Hackings are particularly dangerous because they can involve a high number of records, said Dr. Vincent Liu, the lead author and a scientist at Kaiser Permanente's research division in Oakland, California.
"Our study demonstrates that data breaches have been and will continue to be a persistent threat to patients, clinicians, and health care systems," Liu said.
Prominent cyberattacks affecting two health insurance giants happened after the study. Last May, a data breach hit Premera Blue Cross, affecting about 11 million customers and others. And between last December and late January, hackers accessed an Anthem Inc. database with information on nearly 80 million people.
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