Cybersecurity in Healthcare: Keeping Patient Data Secure and Staying Out of the Headlines
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“We are helping ensure that hospitals don’t have to shut down their technology, which impacts their ability to deliver care.”
-Kyle Hendrickson
By Kim Lee
Cybersecurity in healthcare involves many of the same goals as any other industry – including protecting electronic information and assets from unauthorized access, use, and disclosure. However, ever-evolving technology and the growing interconnectedness between healthcare systems has led to increased risk for both healthcare organizations and their patients. Today, healthcare leaders understand that news of a cyberattack could land on their desk at any moment.
Ramifications of a cyberattack in healthcare manifest in various ways, such as financial cost, loss of efficiency, negative PR, and inaccessible client data. However, the risks in this industry can be even more detrimental, as patient care and potentially patient lives can be put directly at risk when a hospital is breached. Proof of this is only a Google search away, as hospitals that must shut down or divert patients to another facility appear in the headlines more and more frequently.
In fact, according to a 2022 report from IBM, the average cost of a data breach in healthcare has reached an all-time high of $10.1 million. An emerging strategy to fight against these risks is automation. Automation makes an organization’s IT (Information Technology) staff more effective by enabling them to take on more and giving them the ability to respond efficiently. It also reduces the time it takes for threat detection and containment and can pinpoint threats humans can miss.
Eide Bailly, a top consulting firm that focuses on the business side of healthcare, has prioritized helping healthcare organizations understand their security risks and prepare appropriate prevention tactics for each.
“We understand that cyberattacks in healthcare have ramifications beyond just a financial impact. By doing our job well, we can actually impact the experience and the outcome of how a patient recovers in a hospital. That’s meaningful beyond words,” explained Kyle Hendrickson, Director of Cybersecurity at Eide Bailly.
No executive wants to be called by the Board of Directors or the local media to discuss HIPAA breaches or to understand why patient care cannot be delivered. And while the financial impact of a cyberattack is important to consider, recovering from loss of patient trust and negative PR can potentially be even more damaging.
Hendrickson continued, “While we focus on things like securing medical imaging files – which can be used by threat actors to extort money from organizations – we know that we are also protecting patients from having their private medical situations spread across social media for the world to see. Further, we are helping ensure that hospitals don’t have to shut down their technology, which impacts their ability to deliver care.”
Eide Bailly is also equipped to mitigate the difficulty of finding and retaining talented cybersecurity professionals. “One of the more exciting conversations we have with our clients is about helping them to scale their existing team,” said Hendrickson. “No one wants to spend more money, so we help make existing teams more effective.”
For smaller healthcare organizations, Eide Bailly can help identify where their risk is and provide guidance on how to fill any gaps.
Hendrickson concluded, “Every trend I’ve observed in the last five years indicates that the level of cybersecurity risk is increasing. If we are not proactive in managing risk, we may not be able to effectively deliver patient care.”
What should your organization do next? The healthcare industry can benefit greatly from third-party cybersecurity consulting. By working with professionals who understand the threats and risks specific to your industry, your organization can move forward confidently and securely.