Healthcare cyberattacks reached 45 million people in 2021, up from 34 million in 2020, as hospital cybersecurity breaches reached an all-time high. Since 2018, there have been three times as many cyberattacks against healthcare businesses, a trend that has been seen throughout the whole healthcare ecosystem. Between 2020 and 2021, attacks against health plans climbed by 35%, while attacks on third-party vendors increased by 18%.
In 2022, this pattern doesn’t appear to be decelerating. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a warning about a ransomware group that targets the healthcare environment in April of this year. These assaults may have a range of negative effects, including the interruption of hospital operations, the redirection of non-emergency patients, a breach of patient confidentiality, the disclosure of patient data and information, and infrastructure damage.
The Blockchain technology may be the solution to address these security concerns.
Why Blockchain?
- Security: Cyberattacks will rise as technology develops more and healthcare procedures become more contemporary and less paper-based. To safeguard their own and their patients’ privacy, hospitals, insurance companies, and healthcare IT businesses must become more secure. Blockchain technology offers a stronger line of defense to protect patient information, claims transactions, and more because it is decentralized and widely dispersed, making it much more difficult to corrupt.
- Reliability: Due to the lack of a receipt or other confirmation of delivery and the possibility that emails could accidently end up in spam or an outbox, many healthcare executives prefer not to transmit sensitive information by email. Blockchain technology combats this by offering proof of delivery, reception, and opening to ensure traceable and trustworthy communication and remove transactional obstacles. The blockchain’s distribution network, which reflects changes in real time, prevents cancellations or returns of supplied items.
- Speed: Blockchain offers a considerably quicker option in a sector where paper checks are still frequently used for payment between insurance companies, hospitals, and patients, and where faxing is still a common way to transmit information. Blockchain would enable the same speed of transactions as those accessible in other industries, in a secure and traceable manner, by eliminating antiquated and paper-based procedures in favor of electronic solutions.