Dive Brief:
- A new study by the Identity Theft Resource Center found that 43% of all reported identity thefts in the U.S. last year were medically-related.
- In 2013, healthcare organizations experienced 267 breaches, while other businesses experienced 210 breaches, or 34% of all breaches. Financial institutions saw 23 breaches, or 3.7% of all breaches.
- Between 27.8 million and 67.7 million individuals' health records have been compromised since HHS began tracking breaches in 2009.
Dive Insight:
So what's driving the thieves' focus on health data? According to researchers, most identity thieves dig through insurance records to purchase prescription drugs. But medical records are a popular target too; they're worth from $50 to $500 among those seeking to commit medical identity theft. It's clear that we have a very sizeable identity theft threat in play among healthcare providers, and that going forward, more will need to be done to cut medical data thieves off at the source.