Medical Identity Theft: The Importance Of Protecting Your Health Records

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Medical Identity Theft: The Importance Of Protecting Your Health

Records

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071009132111.htm

Many consumers take precautions against identity theft, but what

about medical identity theft? In addition to financial peril,

victims can suffer physical danger if false entries in medical

records lead to the wrong treatment.

" The crime occurs when someone uses a person's name and sometimes

other parts of their identity -- such as insurance information --

without the person's knowledge or consent to obtain medical services

or goods, " said Laurinda B. Harman, PhD, RHIA, associate professor

and chair of the health information management department at Temple

University's College of Health Professions.

" A person's identity information can also be used to make false

claims for medical services or goods. This is not a common event,

but patients need to be aware of it, " Harman said. She will discuss

the growing concerns of medical identity theft as more medical

facilities move to electronic records during the 79th Annual

American Health Information Management Association Convention

Exhibit on October 9 in Philadelphia.

The World Privacy Forum, a non profit, non partisan research group,

said it has received 20,000 reports of medical identity theft in the

past 15 years.

Medical identity theft frequently results in erroneous entries being

put into existing medical records, and can involve the creation of

fictitious medical records in the victim's name at various medical

facilities. This trail of falsified information in medical records

can plague victims' medical and financial lives for years.

In Pennsylvania, two men were convicted of health insurance fraud,

theft by deception, identity theft and forgery in 2006. Galen Baker

stole a coworker's identification to obtain nearly 40 individual

prescriptions for Viagra, a drug typically prescribed to treat

erectile dysfunction. Sullivan stole a man's medical

identification to pay for more than $140,000 in hospital charges. In

other cases, health care employees stole medical records to sell to

third parties or file false claims.

The entire health care system needs to be careful in its hiring.

Ethical principals need to be taught and enforced for all employees,

Harman said.

" As more patients begin maintain their own personal health record,

they will become more aware of the fraud, " she said.

Harman suggests the following tips from the World Privacy Forum to

prevent theft, these include:

Review all " Explanation of Benefits " notices and any other

correspondence from insurance providers describing the services that

have been received, the provider charges and payment allowances.

Report suspicious transactions to your health insurer's special

investigations unit.

Request a complete list of annual payments your insurance company

has made for medical care. Sometimes, thieves change billing address

and phone number, which means a patient may not see all of the bills.

Get a copy of medical records, in case they're tampered with in the

future.

Keep track of medical and prescription benefits cards and keep them

in a safe place.

Harman, a health information management professional for over 35

years, said those in her field take the issue very seriously.

" We need to take the role as the patient advocate. We need to help

them protect their patient information and privacy. There aren't the

same protections in place for medical identify theft as financial

identify theft, " she said.

Virginia L. Mullen, RHIA, director of regulatory Effectiveness at

Loma University Medical Center, will also co- present with

Harman.