The HHS Office for Civil Rights data breach portal showed that there have been 337 healthcare data breaches impacting more than 500 individuals each in the first half of 2022, according to healthcare cybersecurity Fortified Health Security's mid-year report.
Eight things to know:
- Healthcare providers accounted for 72 percent of the healthcare data breaches in the first half of the year.
- Business associates accounted for 16 percent of the healthcare data breaches in the first half of the year.
- Health plans accounted for 12 percent of the healthcare data breaches in the first half of the year.
- The number of records affected in the first half of this year was 138 percent higher than the first half of 2020.
- More than 19 million records have been compromised in healthcare data breaches in 2022 so far.
- Hacking and IT incidents accounted for 80 percent of incidents in the first half of 2022 compared to 73 percent at this time last year.
- Unauthorized access and disclosure accounted for 15 percent of breaches.
- Loss, theft or improper disposal accounted for 5 percent of breaches.
The report cited the healthcare sector's ongoing cybersecurity workforce shortage and problems with obtaining cyber insurance as some of the potential contributing factors to the current breach trends.