After years of budgetary indifference to health information security, and fresh off the worst year in history for healthcare data breaches, many healthcare organizations will be putting more resources into protecting their data, according to Modern Healthcare's 26th annual Survey of Executive Opinions on Key Information Technology Issues.
An overwhelming majority of respondents indicated that the threat of cybersecurity breaches will have some (51%) or considerable (42%) impact on their organization's IT security spending this year.
And 3 out of 4 provider leaders surveyed indicated their IT security spending will increase in 2016, with only 25% indicating there would be no spending changes. No one indicated they would be making cuts in IT security spending.
The median spending range for security as a percentage of their organizations' overall IT budget was 2.1% to 3% in 2015, according to the survey. The median spending range will rise to 3.1% to 4% this year, provider leaders reported.
More than half (53%) of all providers this year say their organizations are encrypting personally identifiable data in storage, so-called “data at rest.” Encrypting data for transmission has been standard practice for years.
Cyber and data security ranked No. 3 when providers were asked to name their top three hot-button health IT priorities. A number of respondents made it their top priority.