Security vulnerabilities in EHR systems have caused more than 40 million Americans' medical records to have been stolen or exposed this year, USA Today reported Nov. 29.
USA Today analyzed data from Health and Human Services and found the following:
- From 2010 to 2014, 50 million people had their medical data stolen.
- In the following five years, that number quadrupled.
- According to the report, there has been an increase in vulnerabilities as healthcare providers fail to protect legacy systems when they switch to electronic medical records.
- Hacking accounts for about half of all security breaches, while about one-third are caused by employee errors.