Electronic health data breaches remain a concern for healthcare organizations, but more work must be done to mitigate insider threats, according to a report by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.

A survey of 283 healthcare IT and security professionals in the U.S. found that 19 percent reported a security breach and 12 percent have had at least one known case of medical identity theft reported by a patient.

However, the greatest perceived “threat motivator” is that of healthcare workers potentially snooping into the electronic health information of friends, neighbors, spouses or co-workers.

In a separate incident announced last month, Delaware-based healthcare organization Beebe Healthcare reported it terminated a temporary contractor on Dec. 27 after learning the person had been arrested for incidents related to identity theft. Although the staffing firm conducted background checks, they did not find anything on this individual, according to Beebe.