For lack of a scar: Why one man’s medical nightmare bodes poorly for all of us

There wasn’t a gaping scar on his stomach. That’s what John Kuhn had to demonstrate to the billing department and chief financial officer of a local hospital to prove that he didn’t have a stomach surgery for which he was being billed for $20,000.

And while that experience, as detailed in a recent article by The Financial Times, would have ticked off just about anyone, it especially angered Kuhn, who is a senior security threat researcher for IBM.

Digital health records can be a very good thing — they allow for the free movement of medical data, provide for quicker and more accurate care and aid researchers who need millions upon millions of data points to make the discoveries that can save lives.

But the healthcare industry has struggled, quite a bit, to guard these records. And that’s also putting patients’ health at risk, because every newly uncovered instance like Kuhn’s further corrodes the trust patients must have in the system to protect their privacy. And when that trust begins to whittle away, patients will reveal less information that could, in many circumstances, be vital to their health — or even to their lives.

That’s really why data security is so important. It’s all about helping people build the trust they need in others. And while that’s not an easy job, it’s most certainly one we’re proud to be a part of.