Of the major healthcare headlines this year, some of the most notable highlighted the escalation of cyberattacks and data breaches.
Cyberattacks in healthcare can have big consequences: They are both life threatening to patients and can cost millions of dollars. Cybercriminals, who exploit the sector’s lagging technology systems, can hold valuable patient information for ransom, while health organizations are forced to either pay the price or watch as patient data is auctioned off on the dark web.
As cyberattacks rose this year, no event dominated headlines like the ransomware attack at UnitedHealth-owned Change Healthcare. The cyberattack crippled crucial payments from insurers to providers for weeks and impacted 100 million Americans. The scope of the attack prompted federal regulators to open an investigation into Change, and United Health CEO Andrew Witty was forced to testify before Congress about the company’s security measures.
But while Change was the biggest incident, several other breaches and cyberattacks impacted healthcare operations across the country.Â
A ransomware attack at Ascension, one of the largest nonprofit health systems in the country, took the system’s electronic health record offline, caused some hospitals to divert ambulances and impacted clinical operations in 11 states and Washington, D.C. Ascension executives said the attack contributed to its $1.1 billion net loss during its 2024 fiscal year.
Attacks also impacted smaller facilities, including at a Chicago children’s hospital, a Michigan-based provider and a Colorado system.
While some hospitals dealt with ransomware attacks, other organizations had to contend with both attacks and data breaches. Data breaches after cyberattacks are also on the rise. Breaches at a contractor for the CMS and benefits administrator HealthEquity exposed the personal health information from over 900,000 people and 4.3 million members, respectively. Last year, 141% more large data breaches were reported to regulators compared to 2022.
As we head into 2025, below are seven of the biggest cyberattack and data breach stories in healthcare this year, including some you may have missed.
