Brand degradation and patient exodus will likely occur every time an organization shames their name through a data breach.
Quick Answer: What Is the HHS Wall of Shame (2014 Data)
The HHS Wall of Shame is a public breach report, required by HITECH §13402(e)(4), listing healthcare orgs with PHI breaches affecting 500+ records.
- As of May 2014, over 990 total breaches had been reported, with 238 organizations breached in 2013 alone (about 4.5 per week).
- 7.7 million records were compromised in 2013, and over 31 million individuals were affected across the Wall's history.
- The three largest breaches were TRICARE (4.9M), Advocate Health (4.0M), and Health Net (1.9M) records.
- Business associates were involved in 27% of reported breaches.
HHS Wall of Shame exposes the not so careful…
With an average of 1.5 million unique visitors per month on hhs.gov (complete.com), the Wall of Shame is an extremely public record of healthcare organizations with PHI breaches of 500 records or more. The interesting thing about the Wall of Shame is that it’s actually a requirement of HITECH [section 13402(e)(4)] that The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary enables public awareness of patient data breaches.
Don’t want to end up on the Wall? Get more info on HIPAA compliance plans, vulnerability scans, and HIPAA Privacy and Security policies.
According to Cintas, two-thirds of US adults would not return to a business (or healthcare organization) if their personal information were stolen. I can say with confidence that brand degradation and patient exodus will likely occur every time an organization shames their name through a data breach. How do I know this? As a well-informed patient, I always check The Wall before giving my business (and information!) to a new dentist or doctor.
What do the stats tell us?
By analyzing the Wall of Shame, I can tell you that as of May 2014:
- The total number of breaches reported to the HHS exceeds 990
- 238 organizations were reported on the WoS as breached in 2013 (that’s 4.5 breaches a week!)
- 7.7 million records were compromised in 2013
- In the history of the Wall of Shame, 72 breaches occurred because of hacking
- The three largest breaches ever reported were 4,901,432 (TRICARE), 4,029,530 (Advocate Health and Hospitals Corporation) and 1,900,000 (Health Net, Inc.)
- 7 health care organizations reported security breaches that involved one million or more records
- In the history of the Wall of Shame, the total number of individuals affected is over 31 million.
- Business associates are involved in 27% of reported breaches
- Who knows how many records unreported breaches (under 500 individuals affected) would add to this list…
"It'll never happen to me"
If you are a healthcare organization, I hope this post has inspired you to reconsider the common false assumptions of medical practices nationwide. “It’ll never happen to me.” “My legal guy takes care of HIPAA.” Those thoughts are what get organizations breached and sent into the corner wearing a dunce cap.
Was this post interesting? Then share it!
Related Posts
.svg)