Safeguarding Protected Health Information (PHI): Preparing For The Onslaught

Private equity investment in healthcare has nearly tripled during the past decade, increasing from $41.5 billion in 2010 to $119.9 billion in 2019.¹ This investment reflects the large size of the market, its prospects for growth driven by aging demographics and opportunities for leverage via economies of scale. Coincident with increased investment has been a concomitant rise in data breaches, inclusive of ransomware (which accounts for one-third of attacks).²

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) defines a data breach as "an impermissible use or disclosure under the Privacy Rule that compromises the security or privacy of the protected health information."³ The Privacy Rule protects "individually identifiable health information."⁴