How Do EHRs and a Meaningful Use Initiative Affect Breaches of Patient Information?

Abstract

Effective use of electronic health records (EHRs) is considered an important step toward the goal of improving the quality of U.S. healthcare, while reducing its costs. However, did EHRs and a meaningful use (MU) initiative increase the risk of a breach of patient information as many people were worried about? This study shows that implementing EHRs led to a 3.081 times higher risk of a breach of patient information. This heightened risk was mostly driven by the occurrence of more accidental breaches. Undertaking MU initiatives increased the risk of accidental breaches by 1.771 times, but not the risk of malicious breaches. We also found that these risks increased more among relatively larger hospitals. We conclude that despite recent evidence that the usage of EHRS has improved the quality of healthcare, quality must go hand in hand with the protection of patient information. Thus, we argue that the government’s future revision of the criteria for MU should better reflect the risk of accidental breaches. Our study also suggests that policy makers should carefully address the possible increase in the risk of privacy breaches when considering whether to promote industry-wide adoption of digitized data and processes.

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