The number of patients affected by data breaches more than doubled from 2018 to 2019, with more than 27 million people impacted this past year, according to a Bitglass report released Feb. 19.
In its annual Health Breach Report, researchers at Bitglass analyzed data available on HHS’ Office for Civil Rights breach portal, commonly known as the “Wall of Shame.”
Here are five key findings:
1. The cost per record breached in 2019 totaled $429. In total, the cost of 27.5 million records exposed in data breaches cost healthcare organizations $11.8 billion.
2. It was most common for patient records to be exposed as a result of a hacking or IT incident, with 24 records affected. Access disclosure incidents affected 2.5 million patients.
3. On a state-by-state basis, healthcare organizations in Texas reported the most breaches in 2019 with 47 incidents. This was twice as many as California which had the second most incidents.
4. Since 2017, the number of records breached has more than doubled each year.
5. The average number of patients affected per breach in 2019 was 71,311, nearly twice of 2018 when an average of 39,739 patients were affected.
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