Dive Brief:
- Data breach reporting to HHS suggests that data breaches are increasingly common. More than 1,000 medical record breaches involving 500 or more people have been reported to HHS since reporting requirements were enacted about five years ago.
- In total, large health data breaches have affected the medical records of roughly one in 10 U.S. residents, or 31.7 million people.
- During this period, more than 32,600 HIPAA complaint cases have been investigated, and more than 22,500 of them closed with corrective action.
Dive Insight:
Not only have health data to become widespread, HHS is ratcheting up the penalties for such violations. Since June 2013 alone, HHS has collected more than $10 million for HIPAA violations. And this may be just the beginning. Experts warn that this number may be low compared to the finds HHS will be assessing in the future.