Case study: Breach increases risk of fraud
A case study examining the 2012 Utah Department of Health (UDH) data breach that compromised the protected health information of 780,000 individuals found a distinct association between healthcare data breaches and fraud.
The case study, conducted by Pleasanton, Calif.-based Javelin Strategy & Research, found that in 2010, if an individual received a data breach notification, there was more than a one in 10 chance that individual also would be a victim of fraud. In 2012, the correlation jumped to one in four, officials say.
The UDH data breach was a failure to manage IT assets correctly, and could easily have been avoided with proper systems lifestyle management, basic checklists and risk assessment. The $2 million to $10 million the breach cost the state is small compared to the total fraud cost of $406 million that researchers estimate will come as a result of the breach. Based on research projections, 122,000 cases of fraud will result from this breach, coming with a price tag of more than $3,000 per victim.
Editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.