Medical information should be kept private and confidential. There are federal laws that threaten anyone who knowingly reveals someone's private medical information. But a study has found that nearly 30 million health records across the nation have been compromised by data breaches. Worse, the frequency of these incidents, and the percent due to criminal intent, is increasing.
Your medical records contain information that can include your name, home address, age, the illnesses you've had, your test results, and your Social Security number. The study, published as a research letter in the Journal of the American Medical Association, did not examine why the records were stolen or what the information can be used for. However, a person's information can be used for identity theft or to obtain medical services by fraud.
Most of the criminal breaches of data were due to theft, such as theft of laptops and thumb drives. But criminal hacking into computer systems can break into very large numbers of medical records. Incidents of computer hacking rose from 5% of all incidents of data breach in 2010 to almost 9% in 2013.
Other forms of data breach are inadvertent and not criminal. These would include incidents were a medical office accidentally sends someone's health information to the wrong person.
Breaches of medical information can lead some patients to fear giving their doctors full information about sensitive issues in their medical history, according to an editorial published in the same issue of the journal. These issues could include information about substance or alcohol abuse, mental health problems, or HIV status.
Patients should be alert to threats on their electronic information. Hackers may conduct what are called phishing expeditions on you, where you receive an email or phone call from what appears to be a doctor or hospital asking you for your information. Patients should also double check doctor's bills and explanation of benefit forms from health insurance companies to ensure that the information about appointments and services is accurate.