HIPAA exposure, Electronic Health Records, and Virtual Health Care visitations: Why Medical Providers need Cyber insurance, now more than ever

Medical Records are a target for hackers because of their high value in the black market (Dark Web). Cyber criminals know that accessing this patient information is easier through smaller practices as they likely do not engage in the use of the highly sophisticated safety measures as do large hospital organizations and health insurance companies. Furthermore, the staff of a small physician’s practice may not be required to undergo the extensive training against cyber crimes. Cyber criminals know that if they gain access to the systems of a smaller group practice, they may be able to access the systems of much bigger & more valuable data bases.

Cyber insurance covers losses and damages resulting from patient data being stolen, exposed, held for ransom, or improperly shared. It covers deliberate actions, such as hacking or ransomware, as well as accidents and human errors such as a lost laptop containing unencrypted patient information or a coding error that accidentally exposes patient data. A good policy will cover paper records as well as electronic records.

Cyber insurance helps medical providers deal with the consequences of data breaches and depending on the nature and size of the breach, it often requires the use of experts, such as attorneys, forensic accountants, IT experts, publicists, and call centers. The benefits of a good cyber policy include:

• Hiring IT experts to determine cause of breach and eliminate cause.
• Hiring a call center to handle inquiries or problems with patients and their stolen identities.
• Payment of Regulatory fines and penalties.
• Hiring attorneys to defend any lawsuits from patients or vendors because of a breach & payment of
  court awarded damages.
• Hiring a public relations firm to restore a physician’s damaged reputation because of a breach.
• Restitution for lost income due to system downtime.
• Paying ransom to free hijacked data.

Many medical providers believe that their Malpractice insurance extends to include Cyber protection. It is true that some Malpractice or medical office policies provide some cyber coverage, but typically the protection is restricted in scope and provides low limits of protection.

The cost of Cyber insurance for medical providers is less than a physician’s malpractice policy.
A typical five-physician care practice with $1,000,000 limit of Cyber protection with no prior claims will cost anywhere from $1,600 to $6,000. a year.

CALL US TODAY at (732)-946-9300 FOR ADVICE AND A QUOTE. Ask for Jennifer.