HMEB Business, February 2017

What’s Inside:
IncreasingReferrals.............. 22 News, Trends & Analysis . . . . . . . . . . 8
MedtradeSpringPreview.......... 15 IncrementalRetailSales ........... 16 MobilityScooters .................. 26 AnHMECustomerJourney......... 30
Hacked.
Why HME providers must prioritize data security.
Nightmare IT
Scenarios Are
Now a Fact of
Healthcare Life
Even a casual perusal of the headlines will make one thing
very clear: healthcare faces an ever- present data security threat. Local and national news continuously reports on hospitals and other healthcare enti- ties that fall prey to hackers. Why are hackers targeting healthcare? Because they know that healthcare businesses handle extremely sensitive data, and they will pay to protect that data.
A preferred method of attack is through ransomware. In a ransomware attack, malware is introduced into
the healthcare organization via an email attachment or similar method, and that software then takes over
the organization’s patient data. The hackers then contact the healthcare organization to tell it that they will release the data when the company pays a ransom.
Attacks on hospitals got so bad
last year that they accounted for 88 percent of all reported ransomware attacks in the second quarter of 2016. In fact, the plague of ransomware has become so mainstream that some hackers actually operate help desks to assist their victims in restoring their data after paying their ransom.
And that threat looms just as large over the HME industry. IT is a vital resource for providers, and now is the time to protect it. Learn more in this month’s cover story.
Data Security forHME . . . . . . . . . . . . Page18
February 2017 Volume 24, Number 2 hme-business.com