Patient data breaches in healthcare carry a weight that goes beyond dollars. When protected health information is compromised, it affects real people, their families, and their trust in the organizations responsible for their care.
For a mid-size telehealth and primary care organization based in NJ, USA (and other east coast locations), the challenge was even more complex. They had to protect patient health information not just at their main facility, but in private residences, nursing facilities, assisted living environments, and other care settings scattered across multiple states. This is the story of how they achieved centralized control over distributed patient data security.
Healthcare remains the most expensive industry when a healthcare data breach occurs. In 2024 and 2025, healthcare providers and organizations faced alarming healthcare cybersecurity trends. Over 700 healthcare data breaches exposed more than 275 million patient records, a 64% increase from 2023. This meant that nearly four out of five Americans had their protected health information (PHI) and personal medical records exposed.
The financial and regulatory impact is severe. Healthcare data breaches now average $7.42 million per incident, the highest cost of any industry for 14 consecutive years. A single breached medical record costs approximately $398 to remediate, and the largest healthcare breach cost components are detection and escalation ($1.47 million on average), lost business ($1.38 million), and post-breach response ($1.2 million).
For healthcare organizations, these aren’t just regulatory fines and forensic expenses. Nearly half of breached healthcare organizations raise prices to offset losses, with nearly one-third raising prices 15% or more. Some facilities experience such severe operational disruption that they close permanently.
Beyond the financial reality, there’s a human one. When patient health information is compromised, it follows people indefinitely. Unlike credit fraud, medical identity theft never expires. A single altered medical record can trigger misdiagnoses, denied claims, and credit damage for years.
The organization served patients across an expansive geographic footprint, committed to providing clinical, social, emotional, and physical care wherever patients called home. This geographic distribution created significant complexity in healthcare data security and HIPAA compliance.
Healthcare providers must always ensure the confidentiality and protection of patient health information (PHI) as well as compliance with HIPAA regulatory requirements, including a documented Privacy Policy Program. The organization had the additional complexity of data sprawl introduced by their commitment to care for patients across multiple locations. This data sprawl created patient data security vulnerabilities.
Data sprawl meant that data attributes (type, stored, used, and shared) for PHI, PII, sensitive and other classifications increased the organization’s risk to data compromise and non-compliance. The organization had the belief that they were exposed to the risk of regulatory non-compliance and lacked the necessary structure of visibility in the event of any external or internal data compromise attacks.
The organization also had no real-time understanding of where all their data resides, the flow of data in and out of their networks and communication channels, the volume of data that might pose a risk, different sensitive data types, or how data was being used by applications. This visibility gap created a compliance nightmare and a security vulnerability.
Actifile’s Data Security Platform was onboarded as the organization’s healthcare data governance technology of choice, specifically designed for patient health information protection. Under the guidance of Actifile data specialists, the organization developed and implemented a Privacy Policy Program that would align with their regulatory requirements. Revision of their organizational data lifecycle policies was undertaken to enable them to maintain a proactive approach to data risks.
Following operational deployment of Actifile, achieved in 8 business days, the organization conducted a thorough risk assessment, identifying potential privacy risks across their telehealth and primary care locations. This assessment established a baseline to constantly identify data traits and quantify them in monetary value and audit compliant risks.
In addition to the risk assessment, the organization developed operating policies and procedures to continually mitigate those risks. The entire operation was designed to maintain minimal ongoing maintenance and zero impact to the way the organization operates.
Actifile’s healthcare data security solution advanced the telehealth and primary care organization across several key areas:
The organization centralized the discovery, visibility, and control of $13.8 million of potential data risk across extensive data types including PHI, PCI, and personal data, both at rest and in motion. More than 50,000 files were secured through encryption.
The implementation delivered ongoing regulatory compliance reporting and immediate audit capability, allowing the organization to expose any new risks in the event of a potential internal or external data compromise.
The organization remediated $13.1 million of data-related risks with automatic, transparent encryption. The healthcare organization implemented new security policies powered by Actifile Automatic Encryption, immediately reducing risk to 78% and achieving 95% risk reduction within 6 days. Low ongoing maintenance and zero impact to operations mitigated additional complexity.
The remaining 5% residual risk is acceptable and 3% below the organization’s enterprise risk management policy.
Actifile’s healthcare data protection solution drives down data risk across multiple telehealth and primary care service locations. The partnership with Actifile creates a capability of data trust for patients and employees. It safeguards the organization’s reputation and confidence with patients for continued success in healthcare operations.
This organization moved from a state of uncertainty about their data landscape to a comprehensive understanding of where patient information resided and how to protect it. They went from potential compliance violations to audit-ready documentation. They went from vulnerability to control.
The speed of implementation is worth noting. Eight business days from deployment to baseline assessment. Within six days of implementing automatic encryption, the organization achieved 95% of their remediation goals. This wasn’t a years-long project; it was rapid, actionable protection.
For healthcare organizations, healthcare data security is inseparable from patient care quality and HIPAA compliance. When patients know their protected health information (PHI) and medical records are protected, they’re more likely to share the information providers need to deliver better care. When organizations can demonstrate compliance with HIPAA and other regulatory requirements, they maintain the trust that keeps operations stable.
The organization’s investment in comprehensive data governance wasn’t just about meeting regulatory requirements. It was about earning and maintaining patient trust during an era when healthcare breaches affect millions of people annually.
If you work in healthcare, you likely know the pressure of protecting patient health information (PHI) and achieving HIPAA compliance while managing complex, distributed operations. You may have multiple healthcare locations, hybrid work environments, cloud applications storing patient data, and legacy healthcare systems. You may not have a clear picture of where all sensitive medical records reside or how patient information flows through your organization.
A comprehensive cyber risk assessment can provide that clarity. It can help you identify where healthcare data security vulnerabilities exist, quantify your patient data risk in terms your leadership understands, and establish a roadmap for achieving HIPAA compliance and protecting patient health information.
BlueTie can help you evaluate your healthcare organization’s data security and HIPAA compliance posture and develop a practical plan for improvement.
Protect your patient data. Maintain HIPAA compliance. Ensure the privacy of protected health information. Earn the trust of the patients you serve.
