Cybersecurity breaches are becoming more common among physician practices in addition to hospitals and health systems. In 2020, healthcare data breaches increased 55.1 percent to 599, with 37 out of 50 states reporting more breaches in 2020 than in 2019.
In a recent interview, Des Plaines-based Illinois Bone and Joint Institute CEO André Blom said cybersecurity is becoming one of the biggest drivers for smaller orthopedic practices to band together.
Here are three cybersecurity attacks at orthopedic practices in the past year:
1. In February, Richmond-based OrthoVirginia was the victim of a cyberattack that affected its phone system, causing disconnections and longer wait times. OrthoVirginia does not believe patient or employee data has been breached, but is investigating the issue with cybersecurity professionals and law enforcement
2. Tyler, Texas-based Precision Spine Care reported in January that a hacker accessed an employee's email account and attempted to commit payment fraud. The practice said that personal information of 20,787 patients was accessible via the hacked email account, but did not have evidence that patient information was misused.
3. In April 2020, Tampa-based Florida Orthopaedic Institute reported a ransomware attack on its servers that impacted patient data. Some patients' personal information may have been accessed or taken during the incident, the practice said.