This study by Sunil Wattal and colleagues investigates the effect of health information exchange participation on hospital data breach risk. Drawing on a theoretical security-cost model, they compile a 2010–2015 panel of over 3,000 U.S. hospitals. Using difference-in-differences, matching, and instrumental variables, they find that joining an HIE cuts breach likelihood by 35 percent and leads hospitals to adopt more IT security applications. The reduction is augmented for hospitals with complex clinical IT systems and those in states with HIE security laws. The study demonstrates that effective HIE governance and IT sophistication can offset the heightened exposure of shared data.
Does Sharing Make My Data More Insecure? An Empirical Study on Health Information Exchange and Data Breaches
