Imagine receiving a bill for a heart procedure you never underwent. That was the experience of one man after his medical records were stolen, and it is a risk all consumers face in healthcare’s modern era where there is still no effective and safe way of sharing sensitive data among healthcare providers.
Earlier this spring the medical records of over 700 patients in an Indianapolis hospital system were stolen. It was Ascension Health’s 7th breach in the last five years, including a July 2014 clerical error that leaked of over 63,000 medical records. Unfortunately, Ascension Health is not an isolated example of leaked medical information. And it isn’t the worst, either. Community Health Systems Inc had 5 million patients’ personal information – including social security numbers – stolen during a cyber attack launched by Chinese hackers. Together, these incidents represent the vulnerability a healthcare industry in which 40% of healthcare organizations reported a criminal cyber attack in 2013.
The driving force behind these continued breaches of electronic data is the black market demand for personal information, which has become 10 to 20 times more valuable than US credit card numbers. Unlike credit cards, which can be quickly cancelled, medical identity theft is not immediately noticed by patients or providers. So criminals can use the information for longer periods to buy expensive medical equipment and drugs for resale, or file fraudulent insurance claims.
While hackers are successfully stealing personal medical records, doctors who want to access patient records in order to provide better care cannot access those records because of the interoperability between hospital electronic record systems. The Obama Administration invested $36.5 billion to stimulate the adoption of electronic medical records. However, private companies that took advantage of the stimulus developed and sold proprietary software incompatible with competitor systems. Because of this inability to share medical information, only 14% of doctors electronically share data with other hospitals and ambulatory care providers. This leaves some patients waiting hours for their records to fax between hospitals. And it leaves others carrying around paper copies of their records to relay complex information between their doctors. For example, Jeanne Patterson, is long-time breast-cancer patient with medical records across 20 different hospitals and health systems that do not share a common electronic system. So she, and patients like her, must print out dozens of paper files containing her medical history and then bring those sensitive documents to each specialist each time she sees a physician. Not only are patients frustrated with the system, but doctors too must struggle to provide high quality care when they cannot effectively access their patient’s entire medical record.
Patients whose sensitive personal information is stolen and those who must carry around their records from doctor to doctor represent the double-edge result of the healthcare industry’s failure to create an effective electronic medical record system. In that sense, consumers are living in a paradox where they can publish their personal lives on social media platforms, but have no way of safely sharing important medical records with their doctors.
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