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Attackers target healthcare networks for sensitive data, financial gain, espionage, or disruption. Because hospitals and other care providers rely on connected systems to run clinical workflows, a cyberattack can do more than expose records: it can make information or services unavailable, delay appointments and procedures, trigger ambulance diversions, and add pressure to nearby hospitals. These are documented risks, not outcomes that occur in every attack or proof that every incident causes patient injury.
Why do attackers target hospitals and healthcare networks?
Healthcare organizations combine valuable information with a strong dependence on technology. HHS describes healthcare facilities as attractive targets because of their size, sensitive data, technological dependence, and vulnerability to disruption. Those characteristics give attackers several possible objectives, and motives can overlap.
Financial crime and extortion
Stolen health information may be exposed or used as leverage, while ransomware can block access to data and systems until a ransom is paid. HHS defines ransomware as malicious software that typically encrypts data using a key known only to the attacker. In care settings, the resulting loss of availability can affect day-to-day operations. HHS guidance on ransomware describes the threat; the HIPAA Security Rule requires safeguards for the confidentiality, integrity, security, and availability of electronic protected health information.
Espionage, destructive activity, and influence
HHS also identifies state-sponsored activity, including data exfiltration or currency generation, as well as hacktivism intended to influence or cause reputational effects. These are categories of known motives, not a reliable way to identify the purpose behind any particular incident. A hospital resiliency analysis by HHS 405(d) identifies directly targeted ransomware intended to disrupt clinical operations as an outsized and growing hospital threat. The operational disruption may be central to an attack, or it may follow from an attack aimed primarily at the organization’s data or systems.
How can a cyberattack disrupt patient care?
Care depends on access to records, scheduling, communications, and other connected services. If those systems become unavailable, staff may have to switch to slower workarounds or postpone work until normal access returns. HHS testimony describes extended outages, including multi-week disruptions, as well as cancelled appointments, services not rendered, delayed procedures—particularly elective ones—and diversion of patients to other facilities.
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- Records and workflows: Electronic health record (EHR) downtime can force staff to use paper records or other manual processes.
- Appointments and procedures: Providers may cancel appointments or delay procedures when they cannot access systems or safely complete normal workflows.
- Emergency care: A facility that cannot process or receive patients normally may divert ambulances, shifting demand elsewhere.
- Capacity across the region: Hospitals receiving diverted patients may face additional pressure while continuing their own services.
HHS’s 2023 healthcare cybersecurity strategy and testimony describe these operational and patient-safety risks. The sources establish that attacks can disrupt care; they do not establish a universal rate of injuries or deaths caused by cyberattacks. A documented delay or workaround should not, by itself, be treated as proof of a resulting clinical injury.
Can an attack on one hospital affect nearby hospitals?
Yes. When an affected hospital cannot accept or process patients as usual, nearby providers may absorb extra demand. HHS testimony summarizes research on a hospital geographically adjacent to a ransomware-hit institution: the unaffected hospital experienced significant increases in emergency-room arrivals, ambulance diversions, waiting time for care, and time-sensitive, resource-intensive cases, including stroke patients requiring treatment. This is evidence of a possible regional spillover effect, not a prediction that every neighboring hospital will see the same changes.
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What do the U.S. figures show—and what do they measure?
Different statistics count different things: reports of large breaches, attacks on healthcare delivery organizations, and people whose information was exposed are not interchangeable measures of all cyber incidents or of clinical harm.
| Measure | Period and figure | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Large breaches reported to HHS OCR | 369 in 2018 and 712 in 2022; HHS reported a 93% increase between those years. | These are OCR-reported large breaches, not the total number of cyber incidents. HHS also reported a 278% increase in large breaches involving ransomware from 2018 to 2022. HHS, 2023 |
| Large breach reports and individuals affected | HHS OCR reported increases of 102% in large breach reports and 1002% in individuals affected from 2018 to 2023. | These are separate measures over the stated period, presented on an HHS OCR page about a proposed HIPAA Security Rule update. The proposal should not be mistaken for a binding final rule. HHS OCR, 2024 |
| Ransomware attacks on U.S. healthcare delivery organizations | 374 attacks from January 2016 through December 2021, exposing protected health information for almost 42 million patients. | A 2022 study by Neprash et al., summarized by ASPR TRACIE, covered hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare delivery organizations. The summary says actual counts were likely higher and calls for better monitoring and reporting. ASPR TRACIE summary |
These figures describe reporting or study counts, not the proportion of attacks that cause treatment delays or measurable injury. HHS Deputy Secretary Andrea Palm said in 2024 that the increasing frequency and sophistication of cyberattacks in healthcare pose a direct and significant threat to patient safety. That is an official characterization of the risk, not an estimate of how often clinical harm occurs.
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What can an incident look like in practice?
An HHS-hosted case study lists patient-data theft alongside disruption to payroll and portals, patient-care delays, ambulance diversions, a switch to paper records, IT outages and EHR downtime, and cancellations. It also gives an estimate of more than USD $100 million in damages for that specific case. That figure is incident-specific; it should not be read as a typical cost of a healthcare cyberattack. HHS-hosted case study
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to interpret the patient-safety risk
The clearest conclusion is operational: attacks can expose information, block access to systems, or interrupt the workflows used to provide care. The resulting consequences may include delays, cancellations, manual workarounds, and diversion to other facilities. The available sources document those kinds of disruption and possible regional spillover, but do not support claiming that every incident causes injury or death—or assigning a universal probability to such outcomes.
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