The Greatest Threat to the Healthcare Industry, Essay Example

The greatest threat to the healthcare industry is arguably that of cyber-attacks.  The healthcare industry is already incredibly dependent on electronic health records (EHR’s) and with the passage of the Affordable Care Act, mandating these EHR’s (Department of Health and Human Services, 2014, p.1), this dependency will be even greater and the industry even more vulnerable to cyber-attacks. A report from Business Wire notes that cyber-attacks “targeted at healthcare organizations…continues to increase, while research indicates that most healthcare organizations are not addressing cyber threat preparedness” (Business Wire, 2014, p. 1).

Examples of Cyber Threats

Kroll Advisory Solutions, a company which works with cyber-threats within the healthcare industry, recently put out a forecast of the four biggest cyber threats. While the fourth will be discussed in the next section, the first three include: 1) “vampire data”, data like archives in a healthcare organization that should have been destroyed or data put into cloud storage without the organization’s knowledge; 2) improper documentation, which makes a forensic investigation after a cyber-attack more difficult, and 3) a new brand of hackers who seek to “destroy the security network, erase pertinent data, wreak havoc with physical equipment and take an organization down” (Milard, 2013, p. 1-2).

Cyber Threats and HIPAA

The fourth threat listed by Kroll Solutions is cyber-attacks where there is a breach of protected health information (PHI).  In their forecast, they actually predict that this form of attack will increase (Milard, 2013, p.2).  This is where HIPAA (Healthcare Information Portability and Accountability Act) comes into play, since this is the law under which PHI is defined and protected; if such a breach is made, companies are required to notify patients of this breach (Department of Health and Human Services, 2014, p. 1) and that could cause much consternation and disruption in the healthcare system if patients did not think they can trust their healthcare providers to keep their PHI safe.

Conclusion

From what has been discussed in this paper, it is easy to see why cyber-attacks present such a special problem for the healthcare industry. Not only is it increasing dependent on EHR’s, making it more vulnerable to cyber-attacks, but increasingly, PHI is being targeted in these attacks. This is a clear breach of HIPAA and these breaches could wreak havoc within the healthcare industry.

Works Cited

Business Wire.  (2014). Health Industry Lagging in Cyber-Threat Preparedness while Cyber-Attacks Targeting Industry Increase.  Business Wire Online. Retrieved from www.businesswire.com/news/home/201403/300525/Healthcare-Industry-Lacking-Cyber-Threat-Preparedness

Department of Health and Human Services. (2014). Key Features of the Affordable Care Act By Year. Department of Health and Human Services Website.  Retrieved from www.hhs.gov./healthcare/facts/timeline/timeline-test.htm

Department of Health and Human Services.  (2014). Understanding Health Information Privacy.  Department of Health and Human Services Website. Retrieved from www.hhs.gov/Ocr/primary/hipaa/understanding

Milard, Mike. (2013). 4 Cyber Security Threats for 2013.  Healthcare IT Issues Online. Retrieved from www.healthcareitnews.com/new/4-cyber-threats-for-2013?page=0