We talk about the cost of HIPAA related breaches for organizations but have you ever wondered how much it costs a victim of a HIPAA related breach? According to Becker’s Hospital Review, the average cost of a HIPAA related breach to an individual is about $19,000.
According to a report by the Ponemon Institute, the average out-of-pocket cost to a patient after medical identity theft is $18,660. The 2013 data show that while only 36 percent of patients — more than 660,000 — end up incurring out-of-pocket costs as a result of medical identity theft, it is expensive for those victims. The total costs incurred by medical identity theft victims in 2013 were about $12.3 billion, according to the report’s extrapolation.
Costs incurred to a victim range from legal counsel to reimbursements to healthcare providers
Expenses for victims include identity protection, credit reporting, legal counsel, expenditures on medical services due to lapses in insurance coverage and reimbursements to healthcare providers for services provided to identity thieves.
One final question to ask yourself, if one of your patients or customers incurred $19,000 in breach expenses do you think they will stay as a patient, customer or client of your organization?
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