Accenture: Cyber Attacks Over 5 Years to Cost $305B for Healthcare Sector

A new Accenture report predicts that cyber attacks on U.S. health systems over the next five years will cost the healthcare sector $305 billion in cumulative lifetime revenue.

The company said Wednesday data breaches that result in the theft of personal information will impact one in 13 patients from 2015 to 2019, with approximately 6 million victims of medical identity theft.

“What most health systems don’t realize is that many patients will suffer personal financial loss as a result of cyber attacks on medical information,” said Kaveh Safavi, managing director of Accenture’s global healthcare business.

The report noted that 16 percent of the affected patients will face total losses of nearly $56 billion over the five-year forecast period.

“If healthcare providers are complacent to safeguarding personal information, they’ll risk losing substantial revenues and patients as a result of medical identity theft,” Safavi added.

Accenture said the report is based on a study of historical security breach data from the Department of Health and Human Services and medical identity theft information from the Ponemon Institute.