- Accenture (NYSE:ACN -1%) says in a new report that cyberattacks will cost U.S. health systems $305B in cumulative lifetime revenues over the next five years. It forecasts that one in 13 patients (~25M) will have personal information stolen from IT systems over this time frame.
- Accenture managing director of global healthcare business Kaveh Safavi, M.D., J.D., says, "What most health systems don't realize is that many patients will suffer personal financial loss as a result of cyberattacks on medical information. If healthcare providers are complacent to safeguarding personal information they will risk losing substantial revenues and patients as a result of medical identity theft."
- According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights, almost 1.6M people had their medical information stolen from healthcare providers last year. Unfortunately, victims of medical identity theft have no automatic rights to recover their losses.
- Accenture projects that ~4M people will ultimately be victimized and pay out-of-pocket costs of ~$56B. It also says that if medical systems proactively address cybersecurity (hint: retain Accenture) it can reduce the risk of data breaches by 53%.