Over the last six months, an investigative team with CBS News Texas has been conducting interviews with over a dozen Medicare recipients whose accounts were used to commit fraud.
Here are five things the investigators found about the link between data privacy and the rise of Medicare fraud, which is estimated to cost the federal government more than $60 million annually, according to the Oct. 27 report:
1. A Medicare account number and national provider identifier are the two essential pieces of information required to submit fraudulent Medicare claims, both of which can be obtained by hacking into a facility's computer system.
2. According to the FBI, healthcare organizations reported 725 data breaches last year, impacting over 120 million people and making healthcare the most targeted sector for ransomware.
3. Ben Singleton, a cybersecurity expert and owner of NetGenius in Arlington, Va., said that the medical sector has some of the weakest cybersecurity rules of any federally regulated industry, which contributes directly to the rise in data breaches and subsequent fraud.
4. "Until a breach happens and your medical information gets disseminated online, there's no enforcement of HIPAA regulations," Mr. Singleton said.
5. In May, UnitedHealth Group's CEO Andrew Witty testified before the Senate Finance Committee about a cyberattack impacting the company and potentially one-third of all Americans. As a result of this breach, federal lawmakers introduced a bill that would set minimum cybersecurity standards, require annual audits and remove the current limits on federal fines, which will allow large corporations to have penalties significant enough to deter poor cybersecurity.