Based upon data collected by the HHS Office for Civil Rights, as of February 1, 2016, protected health information breaches affected over 113 million individuals in 2015. In 2015, hacking incidents comprised nearly 99% of all individuals affected by breaches, and the number of reported hacking incidents, 57, comprised over 20% of all reported breaches. From 2011 to 2014, 97 hacking incidents affected less than 4 million individuals – less than 10% of all reported breaches and affected individuals during this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, despite the rise in breaches related to hacking incidents, reported breaches related to other incidents and the number of individuals affected by these breaches are down in 2015. Through February 1, 2016, theft, loss, improper disposal, and unauthorized access or disclosure of protected health information comprise 208 of all reported breaches (N=265), down from 216 (N=285) in 2014 and 211 (N=262) in 2013. These four types of breach incidents affected 1.4 million individuals in 2015, compared to 10.7 million in 2014 and 6.7 million in 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2015, four of the fifty-one hacking incidents involved an electronic medical record (EMR). One hacking incident affected 3.9 million individuals’ health information – nearly all the individuals affected by an EMR hacking incident in 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n