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Electronic health records were supposed to make life better for patients and doctors -- getting rid of bulky and messy paper files, streamlining delivery of care and organizing medical information so that scientists can use it to make discoveries. But those benefits could be for naught if digital medical data aren't safe -- and they don't appear to be. A new analysis of government records, published Tuesday in the journal JAMA, found that close to a thousand large data breaches affected 29 million medical records between 2010 and 2013. (Brown, 4/14)

Large-scale health data breaches reported by doctors and health plans have been rising steadily, a new report shows. From 2010 to 2013, nearly 1000 large breaches affected more than 29 million individual health records, and more than half resulted from theft or loss of laptops, thumb drives and paper records, according to researchers with access to government data. (Doyle, 4/14)

Your private medical information is under threat. That's according to a study that found almost 30 million health records nationwide were involved in criminal theft, malicious hacking or other data breaches over four years. The incidents seem to be increasing. (4/14)

A Missouri lawsuit seeking class-action status accuses three insurance agencies of failing to safeguard sensitive consumer data from hackers who recently breached health insurer Anthem Inc.'s computer networks. A lawsuit first filed in February in St. Louis County on behalf of Jill Noble, a Richmond, Mo., woman was amended Tuesday to add three plaintiffs who allege personal data stolen during the breach in December or January is responsible for fraudulent tax returns filed in their name, costing them a combined $6,753 in refunds. (4/14)