Spending on security of health data breaches to hit $70B by 2015 - FierceHealthIT

Spending on security of health data breaches to hit $70B by 2015 - FierceHealthIT:
March 29, 2012 — 3:24pm ET | By Dan Bowman 

With the cost of healthcare data breaches continuing to rise year after year, it shouldn't come as a surprise that spending on the security of that information is estimated to hit $40 billion this year, and balloon to $70 billion three years from now, according to a recently published report from Princeton, N.J.-based consulting firm The Boyd Company.

Specifically, investments in electronic health records and mobile technology to meet government compliance standards are cited as key to the expected spending splurge. Because of the inevitable increase in medical records sharing, new and improved efforts will be mandatory to keeping health data safe.

The report breaks down current data security costs in the U.S. by city, with New York ($32.6 million), San Francisco ($27.8 million) and Los Angeles ($25.7 million) spending the most annually on such protection.

"In an industry whose cost structures are under constant scrutiny by patients, insurance companies and government agencies, comparative economics are ruling investment and location decisions for new facilities," the authors wrote. "In today's difficult economy, improving the bottom line on the cost side of the ledger is often easier than on the revenue side for many healthcare services companies."

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