Healthcare sees 155% more breached records in March

Jessica Kim Cohen -

Healthcare organizations witnessed a stark increase in breached patient records last month, according to a Protenus report.

The report, which is part of the Protenus Breach Barometer monthly series, analyzed healthcare breaches reported to HHS or disclosed to the media during March 2017.

Here are five things to know.

1. There were 1,519,521 breached patient records in March, representing a 155 percent increase in the number of breached records in January (388,307) and February (206,151) combined.

2. However, only 39 separate breach incidents occurred in March, compared to 31 breach incidents reported in January and another 31 incidents reported in February.

3. The largest single breach incident in March involved 697,800 patient records. This incident was reported to HHS as a theft.

4. Insiders were responsible for 44 percent of March's breach incidents, representing 179,381 patient records. The plurality of these incidents were due to insider error.

5. Healthcare providers reported a majority (84.6 percent) of breaches in March, followed by health plans. Only one incident was reported by a third-party.

Click here to view the full report.

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