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Attackers target healthcare networks for sensitive data, financial gain, espionage, influence, or to disrupt systems hospitals need to deliver care. When those systems or records become unavailable, the effects can reach beyond IT: documented consequences include paper-record workarounds, delayed or cancelled services, ambulance diversions, and added pressure on nearby hospitals. These are possible operational harms, not proof that every cyberattack causes injury or death.
Why do attackers target healthcare networks?
Healthcare organizations combine several features that make them attractive targets: they hold sensitive personal and health information, rely on interconnected technology, and must keep providing care when systems are disrupted. HHS describes the U.S. healthcare sector as vulnerable to attacks that exploit its size, technological dependence, sensitive data, and the consequences of interruption. That creates more than one possible source of value for an attacker.
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Financial crime and extortion
Stolen health information can be exposed or used as leverage, while ransomware can block access to systems or data until an organization faces pressure to pay. HHS’s Office for Civil Rights defines ransomware as malicious software that blocks access to data, typically by encrypting it with a key known only to the attacker, until a ransom is paid. In healthcare, denying access can affect clinical and administrative workflows, not just the organization’s files.
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HHS also identifies state-sponsored activity, including data exfiltration or currency generation, as well as hacktivism intended to influence or cause reputational harm. Motives can overlap and vary by incident; there is no single explanation for every attack. HHS’s hospital resiliency analysis describes directly targeted ransomware intended to disrupt clinical operations as an outsized and growing threat to hospitals.
How can a cyberattack affect patient care?
Care depends on access to records, communications, scheduling, and other connected services. If those systems are unavailable, staff may have to switch to manual processes or work with incomplete information. HHS testimony describes extended disruptions, cancelled appointments, services not rendered, and delayed procedures, particularly elective procedures. The same testimony notes that multi-week outages can force patients to seek care elsewhere.
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Unavailable records and manual workarounds
Electronic health record downtime can make patient information harder to retrieve and update. Facilities may switch to paper records or other workarounds while IT systems are restored. A case study hosted by HHS lists paper-record use, IT outages and EHR downtime, along with disruption to payroll and portals, as consequences of the incident it describes.
Delays, cancellations, and diversions
When a facility cannot operate normally, it may delay procedures, cancel appointments, or be unable to provide some services. Ambulances may be diverted to other hospitals. These effects can reduce access to timely care, but operational disruption alone does not establish that a patient suffered a particular clinical injury.
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Effects on nearby hospitals
A cyberattack can create spillover beyond the facility that was hit. HHS testimony summarizes a study of a hospital near a ransomware-hit institution: the unaffected hospital saw significant increases in emergency-room arrivals, ambulance diversions, patient waiting times, and time-sensitive, resource-intensive cases, including stroke cases requiring treatment. This demonstrates a possible regional effect, not a predictable result of every attack.
What do the reported numbers show?
Different statistics describe different things: reported large breaches, ransomware attacks on healthcare delivery organizations, and the number of people whose information was exposed. They should not be treated as interchangeable measures of all cyber incidents or of confirmed clinical harm.
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| Measure | Reported figure | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Large breaches reported to HHS OCR | 369 in 2018 and 712 in 2022, a 93% increase | HHS’s 2023 figures count OCR-reported large breaches, not all cyber incidents. HHS also reported a 278% increase in large breaches involving ransomware from 2018 to 2022. |
| Large breach reports and affected individuals | Large breach reports increased 102%; individuals affected increased 1002% | HHS OCR’s 2024 proposed-rule page compares 2018 with 2023. These measures and period differ from the 2018–2022 figures above. |
| Ransomware attacks on healthcare delivery organizations | 374 attacks; almost 42 million patients’ protected health information exposed | A 2022 study summarized by HHS ASPR TRACIE covered U.S. hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare delivery organizations from January 2016 through December 2021. The authors said the actual count was likely higher. |
The 2022 study also identified EHR downtime, cancellations, and ambulance diversions among the effects of those attacks. It called for improved monitoring and reporting, so the figures should be read as documented counts rather than a complete tally.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the evidence does—and does not—establish
HHS Deputy Secretary Andrea Palm said in 2024 that cyberattacks in healthcare pose “a direct and significant threat to patient safety.” That is an official characterization of risk, not an estimate of how often attacks cause measurable clinical harm. The cited evidence documents service disruption and care-access consequences, but it does not establish a universal injury or death rate caused by cyberattacks.
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A separate HHS-hosted case study estimates more than $100 million in damages for the specific incident it describes. That figure is case-specific; it is not a typical cost for a healthcare cyberattack.
For U.S. healthcare organizations, the HIPAA Security Rule requires safeguards for the confidentiality, integrity, security, and availability of electronic protected health information. HHS’s 2024 HIPAA Security Rule page concerns a proposed rule; proposed requirements should not be mistaken for binding final requirements.
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