A report by Mckinsey & Company found that telehealth usage during the COVID-19 pandemic increased by 38 times.
But this increase in telehealth usage also led to an increase in health data sharing, according to the report, and patient healthcare data has increasingly become a target for data breaches.
In 2020, 26.4 million people were affected by hospital data breaches in the U.S, according to Raconteur.
Sharing data has a positive impact on healthcare — allowing public health officials worldwide to coordinate responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, for example — but it can have a negative effect on patients whose information becomes exposed.
In order for healthcare organizations to continue to use health data sharing while maintaining patient trust, transparency on how data is collected must be a priority, according to the report.
