Firm offers data breach insurance

A unit of hospital purchasing alliance Premier Inc. has begun offering insurance designed to protect members against the cost of data breaches. We're guessing that HIT leaders and their colleagues are starting to realize just how expensive a malicious data breach can be. Those numbers are extremely steep--in fact, most incidents are estimated to cost nearly $200 per record and $6.3 million per incident. To address these concerns, the Premier unit's Premier Insurance Management Services of Charlotte, N.C., is offering data privacy and network risk liability insurance to members. It's working in partnership with Media/Professional Insurance of Kansas City, MO.

The insurance covers a bundle of "soft" costs relating from the breach, including expenses, fines and penalties arising from government and regulatory investigations into how the hospitals managed personal data. It also covers crisis management, public relations and customer notification. Policyholders also get access to data security risk management and planning help, consultation, and educational assistance from law firm Sonnenschein, Nath & Roshenthal LLP.

To learn more about this insurance:
- read this Health Data Management article

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