Cybersecurity news for hospitals and health systems

Smaller healthcare providers are more likely to struggle at following cybersecurity best practices while large healthcare providers tend to have mature, sophisticated defenses, according to a KLAS and CHIME study and cited by the HIPAA Journal.

Houston-based Memorial Hermann Health System is notifying 507 patients that their information was mistakenly emailed to single recipient by an employee, according to ABC13.

Huntington, W.Va.-based Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine is seeking to dismiss a case that alleges the medical school wrongfully disclosed a patient's information, according to the West Virginia Record.

The U.S. healthcare system lost $6.2 billion in 2016 due to data breaches, with the average data breach costing healthcare organizations' $2.2 million, according to an HHS report, which includes data between 2016 and 2018.

More than 50 percent of small, medium and large healthcare organizations have implemented unannounced email phishing exercises to train their employees, according to a recent KLAS and College of Healthcare Information Management Executives report.

Data is an all-important resource in healthcare. Caregivers and payers depend on data to make clinical, operational and financial decision every day. However, as the volume and value of data grows, so does the threat of data breaches.

Hospitals and health systems are becoming more focused on cybersecurity with the influx of data breaches.

A database that held personal information for MedicareSupplement.com was left vulnerable to hackers, according to the HIPAA Journal.

Employees at Akron, Ohio-based Summa Health were targets in phishing attacks in August 2018 and March 2019, according to Akron Beacon Journal.

Numerous privacy incidents at hospitals, IT suppliers and other healthcare organizations captured public attention last month.