Healthcare Hit Hard With Breaches In 2020

The healthcare industry seems to be smack in the bullseye of the cybercriminals these days. Why? There is a lot of valuable information in a healthcare record, ripe for credit fraud, medical fraud, and identity theft. And with the breach of Blackbaud earlier this year, millions of records put all of those types of fraud at the fingertips of the cyber and identity thieves.

In case you’re wondering, there have been a lot of healthcare breaches of late. Many directly due to the Blackbaud incident. Here is a list of the largest ones in 2020 thus far, six of them from Blackbaud:

• Trinity Health, Livonia, MI – 3,320,726 individuals affected
• Inova Health System, Falls Church, VA – 1,045,270 individuals affected
• Magellan Health, Phoenix, AZ – 1,013,956 individuals affected
• Norther Light Health, Brewer, ME – 657,392 individuals affected
• Health Share of Oregon, Portland, OR – 654,362 individuals affected
• Florida Orthopedic Institute, Tampa, FL – 640,000 individuals affected
• Elkhart Emergency Physicians, Elkhart, IN – 550,000 individuals affected
• St. Luke’s Foundation, Kansas City, MO – 360,212 individuals affected
• NorthShore University HealthSystem, Evanston, IL – 348,746 individuals affected
• SCL Health-Colorado, Broomfield, CO – 343,493 individuals affected

But don’t despair. There are some ways you can lower your risk of becoming a victim of any of them.

• Closely monitor your healthcare records and benefit statements. When you get that information from your providers or insurers, look them over and question anything that doesn’t look right. Call the healthcare provider and the insurer and get it resolved. Just because you don’t recognize the doctor’s name, doesn’t mean it’s fraud. It’s just a good idea to find out.

• Check your credit reports regularly and fix anything that isn’t correct. You can get one report every 4 months and keep close tabs on it. Right now, it’s even easier. Because of all the COVID related fraud, you can check your credit reports every single week through April of 2021. You may not feel it’s necessary, but the option is there and all free of charge. Just make sure to go to annualcreditreport.com to avoid any fees.

• While healthcare breaches don’t always result in stolen payment information, it’s still wise to watch for charges on your cards too. It’s easy to check an app or go to the financial institution’s website these days to take a quick peek.

• If it is reasonable to freeze your credit, take the time to do that. It’s free to freeze and unfreeze and you can even unfreeze it temporarily if you need to give someone access for a short period of time.

• For those who manage healthcare networks, be sure to secure all those systems properly. They hold a lot of very confidential and personal information and the customers and patients deserve for it to remain as safe in your care as possible. Make sure only those who need access have it and they only have the level of access needed to do their jobs.