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The impact of healthcare data breaches on patient hospital visit behavior

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  • Park, Eunho
  • Lim, Joon Ho

Abstract

The healthcare industry is highly vulnerable to data breaches, with over half of such incidents occurring in this sector in the United States. Leveraging threat and coping appraisal frameworks from the established theory, we explore how patients respond to a data breach. This study focuses on data breaches at 12 hospitals in California over a three-year period, analyzing individual-level hospital visit data to assess the impact. Using the difference-in-differences method, we estimate the effect of a data breach on patient behavior by comparing visits before and after the breach between affected and unaffected individuals. The findings reveal that patients who experience a healthcare data breach are less likely to visit hospitals in the following months. The impact of a data breach is greater when it is a more severe incident, such as those caused by employees or large-scale breaches. However, the effect is mitigated when discontinuing hospital visits could harm patients, especially those needing ongoing care for chronic conditions. We also conduct supplementary analyses to identify boundary conditions and performed robustness checks and falsification tests to validate our findings.

Suggested Citation

  • Park, Eunho & Lim, Joon Ho, 2025. "The impact of healthcare data breaches on patient hospital visit behavior," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 1285-1304.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ijrema:v:42:y:2025:i:4:p:1285-1304
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijresmar.2025.01.004
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