Healthcare

Medical companies affected by AMCA healthcare data breach have begun alerting investors and shareholders which may cause them to lose tens of millions of dollars in stock market valuation.

Third party data breach struck Quest Diagnostics’ billing vendor which exposed patients’ sensitive information including social security numbers and medical information.

Bio-cybersecurity is not to be taken lightly as data breach could lead to healthcare companies buying back patient data from ransomware or hackers using stolen genetic data to blackmail individuals.

Healthcare professionals will have to re-think protections for health data privacy as rapid new advances in AI technology are already able to generate the identity of specific individuals using anonymous health data from different sources.

DNA testing companies are collecting millions of DNA samples that include personal health information (PHI) and turning around to sell it to research and pharmaceutical companies. Consumers need to weigh the privacy risks and decide if these DNA testing companies have a heart of gold or are just looking for one.

Do we need to protect the privacy of the deceased? Let’s look at the two kingpins of privacy regulation mentioned earlier – HIPAA and GDPR. We then take a brief view at a few of the literally hundreds of other personal information protection laws with regard to if and how they relate to the protection of the deceased.

Innovative healthcare technology solutions are raising serious security and privacy concerns. And that has to be addressed. It needs to start with patient advocacy and transparency. And stricter regulations that can be tested by the patients.