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According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
large ransomware breaches in the health care sector increased
278% from 2018 to 2022. Matt Dean, senior fellow for Healthcare
Policy Outreach at The Heartland Institute, said hospitals can’t
just go to the police when cyberattacks happen.
“What if your private medical data was on the other side of that
equation? It makes it really tough for a hospital administrator,
a hospital president trying to deal with this. It’s a pickle,”
Dean said.
Cyberattackers went after Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago
earlier this year.
“It wasn’t just billing or records. It was access to medical
records, so you couldn’t bring up your file if you have your
portal where you log on with your password. They had to shut it
all down,” Dean said.
The cyberattacks have led to difficult decisions for hospitals
and health care facilities.
“They have your data, your electronic medical record, all of
your sensitive data that they are duty-bound to not share
anywhere, ever. And somebody might leak that, they’ll say,
unless you pay us money,” Dean explained.
Dean said hospitals can’t afford to pay ransom to people in
other countries every time they want money.
“Our smaller rural hospitals, I mean, they’re just one instance
away, an average of ten-million bucks when they’re breached.
That can put a small hospital out of business,” Dean said.
St. Margaret’s Health in Peru and Spring Valley, Illinois closed
last June, in part due to a ransomware attack in 2021.
Dean said the federal government should do its job and protect
its citizens.
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