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Prevent Medical Identity Theft, Empower Dental Health-Care Workers

Prevent Medical Identity Theft, Empower Dental Health-Care Workers
by Ale Brown, MBA, CIPT

The finance industry is an overrated poster child when it comes to industries at risk of experiencing privacy breaches. According to the World Policy Forum, an active credit card sells on the black market for $3. Compare this to a medical record that can sell for $50 at its peak. The black market value of stolen medical patient records has fluctuated based on the growth of the ransomware market.

BUT MEDICAL IDENTITY THEFT—the theft of patient name, address, Social Security and health ID numbers—remains a lucrative vertical for cybercriminals to get prescription drugs, insurance claims, and even government benefits. Health organizations and dental practices are taking steps to improve data protection strategies and understand the root causes that allow incidents to happen.

The digital transformation journey that dental practices are embarking on has increased the likelihood of a privacy breach. As dental practices transition from physical to digital recordkeeping, personal information may be compromised during the transition due to lack of established protocols regarding how to manage and dispose of paper records. There are also a number of access points to medical patient data that opens up the chance for personal information to be compromised once the migration takes place. Twenty-five percent of data breaches are caused by human error, and the lack of management when it comes to adopting privacy practices in the workplace does not help.

There are regulatory compliance expectations in almost every jurisdiction and it is crucial to ensure that clear policies, procedures, and training are in place. In the US, HIPAA ensures health information is appropriately safeguarded, and in Canada, PIPA regulates privacy practices in British Columbia and Alberta. Dental practices should strive to update their privacy program in order to appropriately protect patient data or they could expose themselves to financial and reputational consequences

Read full article on Dentistry iQ.