Disclaimer: This blog article was written by an AdvancedMD partner. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of AdvancedMD.
The Microsoft Threat Intelligence Briefing: Healthcare has reported that the healthcare/public health sector was one of the top 10 most impacted industries in the second quarter of 2024, with a 300% surge in ransomware attacks. There is now an entire industry of RaaS – Ransomware as a service. Bad actors can subscribe to services that will create ransomware for them. Bad actors are also utilizing AI to create ransomware and better target ransomware attacks.
The cost of ransomware has been estimated to be up to $900,000 per day for the US healthcare industry.
You can view:
Crowdstrike’s article on AI and ransomware
The takeaway from this information is that we, as healthcare providers, are in the cross hairs of bad actors who are looking to disrupt our ability to provide quality care to our patients. They are doing this for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is financial gain.
If we are hit with a ransomware attach the impacts can include:
- Loss of access to our medical records causing
- Adverse outcomes for patients
- Disruptions of our Revenue Cycle Management Activities
- Inability to respond to Insurance Company Audits
- Inability to respond to patient requests for copies of their Health Information (a violation of the HIPAA right of Access Rule)
- Inability to respond to administrative requests for medical records
- Needing to respond to a HIPAA Breach including
- Sending out a letter to each and every patient informing them of the breach
- Publishing a notification in the news of the breach
- Hiring a IT team to repair the damage caused
- Responding to a government investigation about the breach
- Paying fines as a result of the breach
The best way to avoid all of these negative impacts is to not have a ransomware event in the first place. But what if you do have one?
Ransomware is a type of disaster that can hit your office. By being prepared for a disaster you are in a better position to respond and recover from that disaster. On December 3, CMEonline is hosting a free program “Disaster Preparedness and Disaster Recovery”. The program will talk about various disasters that can impact your IT systems and your ability to function, how to prepare in advance so that when a disaster does hit you can recover as quickly and painlessly as possible. Register for this free program here.
