Eighty-seven million patients in the U.S. had confidential health information breached in 2023, more than double that of last year, according to a report by Atlas VPN, an internet encryption company.
The report, published Oct. 18, used data from the HHS' Office for Civil Rights database, where health systems or companies are required to report data breaches that affect more than 500 patients.
Here are four additional findings from the report:
1. In 2023, 86,948,646 patients had health data exposed in data breaches, compared to 37,064,416 in 2022 — an increase of 57%.
2. So far in 2023 there have been 480 data breaches reported in the health sector, compared to 373 in the entirety of last year.
3. The largest breach this year was of Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare, in which 11 million patients' data was affected.
4. California has had the most data breaches of any state this year, with 43 organizations experiencing incidents. The state's large population and high concentration of healthcare providers are likely factors.