Cybersecurity

Along with notifying patients following cyberattacks, hospitals and health systems have different approaches to how to update or change its existing cybersecurity infrastructure. While some are focused on education, others implement new software to prevent cyberattacks.

Home healthcare company Aveanna Healthcare began notifying an undisclosed number of patients and employees Feb. 18 that their information may have been exposed in a phishing attack.

San Diego-based Rady Children's Hospital began alerting 2,360 radiology patients Feb. 21 that their information may have been accessed by unauthorized personnel.

Hackers take on various faces when conducting phishing attacks, with PayPal being the most commonly impersonated company, according to a Vade Secure report.

Several patients involved in a data breach at Seattle-based UW Medicine have sued the academic medical center claiming their protected health information was not properly safeguarded.

In the changing digital health era, Timothy Noonan, deputy director for Health Information Privacy at the HHS Office for Civil Rights, is constantly reviewing HIPAA and privacy standards to ensure patient information is safe and in the right hands.

The number of patients affected by data breaches more than doubled from 2018 to 2019, with more than 27 million people impacted this past year, according to a Bitglass report released Feb. 19. 

Throughout the past two months, hospitals, health systems and other healthcare organizations have had to juggle an increasing number of ransomware attacks. These attacks have caused hospitals to reschedule surgeries and spend millions of dollars to recover. 

Hospital software provider NRC Health is notifying its affiliated hospitals that it was targeted in a ransomware attack Feb. 11, a spokesperson confirmed to CNBC. 

Byron Center, Mich.-based Mercy Health Physician Partners Southwest began notifying 2,487 patients Feb. 10 that their information may have been exposed in a mailing error.