ID theft : medical identity theft, medical records

Medical ID theft prevention

IdentityTheft — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:01:00 GMT

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Just about anyone who has a mother has heard those words, and mama was right—especially when it comes to medical identity theft.

The time to protect yourself is now.

Step 1: Be as cautious with your insurance cards as you are with your credit cards. Make a copy of your insurance card. Then, on the copy blacken out all information except the provider’s name and your own. If you carry a Medicare card use the same tactic by blackening out the last four digits of your Social Security number on the photocopy. Keep the original insurance card locked up safely at home.
Step 2: Go over any statement of benefits you receive from the insurance company. If you find any claims for services you never received, contact your insurer immediately.
Step 3: Don’t wait for a statement of benefits; be proactive. Identity thieves routinely have mail redirected to elude detection. Ask your insurance provider to send you an annual statement of benefits.
Step 4: Check your credit report at least annually. If someone else is receiving medical care using your name, it’s a sure bet they’re not paying the bills for you, too. Sooner or later those bills will end up in the hands of a collections agency and on your credit report.
Step 5: Routinely obtain copies of your medical records, and keep them locked away safely at home. Not only will having these records make it easier to detect any erroneous information that might have already been inserted, it will also make it easier to restore the correct information.

Medical identity theft: The crime that could take your credit, reputation or even your life

IdentityTheft — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:20:00 GMT

The New York Times ran a story over the weekend about medical identity theft. They used Brandon Sharp’s story as an example and ran the story in the paper’s health section.

Medical identity theft stories can be found in just about any section of a newspaper: health, crime or finance—even obituaries--because medical ID theft can affect so many areas of its victims’ lives.

Sharp enjoyed good health and good credit until he became an identity tehft victim. Now he medical services accounts in collections, including a $19,000 charge for Life Flight air ambulance service. There are several more charges for emergency room visits in cities he’s never visited.

Besides wreaking havoc on victims’ credit score, some ID thieves use victims’ identity when arrested. Once out on bond, they skip their court dates, which results in an arrest warrant for the ID theft victim and sometimes multiple arrests. With a record like that, it’s all but impossible to get a job.

Anndorie Sachs learned she was a medical ID theft victim when authorities called to tell her that her newborn baby tested positive for methamphetamine. The next day a child services worker came to her home to take away her four children.

Sachs’ purse was stolen from her car months before, and her identity used in an emergency room by a woman who gave birth to a sickly baby girl and then abandoned her. Sachs was left with a $10,000 hospital bill, a criminal record and a legal fight that went on for years.

Sachs still worries the fraud may have introduced dangerous—even deadly--errors into her medical records. Incorrect entries about blood type, current medications or drug allergies could cost medical identity theft victims more than their good credit—it could cost them their lives.

Yakima Heart Center to patient: No Social Security number, no cardiac care

IdentityTheft — Wed, 27 May 2009 20:26:00 GMT

Your employer needs your Social Security number. And of course the Internal Revenue Service needs your Social Security number. But do your doctors? What happens if you follow the advice of the Social Security Administration and refuse to give it to them?

The Yakima Heart Center will refuse to provide the cardiac care that could make the difference between life and death.

Aram Langhans, a 58-year-old Yakima, Washington resident, was already hooked up to a portable heart monitor Monday to check out his irregular heart rhythms when a nurse at the Heart Center sent him to a restroom with instructions to remove the monitor and leave the premises.

The conflict arose because Langhans saw his Social Security number printed on a patient information printout as he was checking in, and asked a records clerk to remove it.

The Langhans take identity theft protection very seriously since their nephew’s identity was stolen from a credit application and used to fraudulently obtain credit cards and cell phone accounts. It took him a year to clean up the mess.

There’s already a “significant amount of evidence showing ID theft cases originate in medical offices,” according to a spokesperson for the nonprofit Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.

More than 350,000 records are known to have been exposed already this year because of data breaches originating in hospitals and medical practices, according to the Clearinghouse’s Chronology of Data Breaches.

The Social Security Administration recommends asking the following questions when anyone requests your Social Security number:

What law requires that you divulge it?
Why do you need it?
How will it be used?
How will it be protected?
What happens if you refuse?

Fewer jobs means more medical identity theft

IdentityTheft — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 18:50:00 GMT

Why would your health insurer refuse to pay the bill for your appendectomy, claiming they’d already paid for one a month before? Why would your doctor prescribe a blood pressure medication though you have no history of hypertension? What if you receive a letter from a bill collector demanding payment for breast implants you’ve never had?

Any of these things can happen to victims of medical identity theft, and in Las Vegas police say it’s happening a lot, according to investigators with the city’s Metro Financial Crimes department. In fact, the valley police say they’re working right now on five recently reported cases of medical identity theft.

“I’ve had doctors call and tell me they don’t know who they operated on,” said Lt. Robert Sebby.

People who lose their jobs often lose their health benefits, but their need for health care doesn’t go away just because they’ve lost their ability to pay for it. And when illness and desperation converge, medical identity theft becomes a painful option.

Drug addicts and dealers find it easier to steal an insurance card than to rob a house and sell a stolen TV. Armed with a stolen insurance card, it’s easy enough to receive prescription drugs for painkillers or anti-anxiety drugs.

So, how can you protect yourself and your family from medical identity theft? Protect your insurance card the same way you do your credit cards:

Don’t carry insurance cards with you unless you know you’ll need them.
Check any statement of benefits with the same diligence you review credit card statements.
Ask your doctor at every visit to review your records for allergies, prescribed medications and recent visits.
If you find any irregularities in your benefits statements or medical records, contact your insurance company and the police.