Take steps to protect your practice and its patients from being victimized. Many forms of identity theft may stem from a medical record breach. Thieves may use someone else’s identity to seek medical care, open new utility accounts, receive credit cards, conduct online transactions, apply for home loans, buy cars, get a job, commit crimes, or file for fraudulent government benefits. Medical records contain a plethora of information all in one place. This is a jackpot for thieves. Medical identity theft poses a risk even greater than financial breaches. Consider someone claiming to be you and seeking medical care. Perhaps […]
Global cyberconflicts, more hacktivism and disruptions during the presidential campaign are some possible issues on the horizon in 2016. As the data breach landscape continues to evolve, companies must try to stay ahead of the curve and be prepared to respond to any type of security incident. To provide a snapshot of what could take place in 2016, Experian Data Breach Resolution has released its third annual Data Breach Industry Forecast white paper. The white paper outlines five key predictions. While some current issues remain relevant, there are a few emerging areas that organizations should watch out for to be […]
HIPAA audits are coming, and a lot of unprepared providers are going to be caught with their pants down. The audit mandate, an extension of the HITECH Act, means that any provider subject to HIPAA standards is also subject to a potential audit of their privacy, security, and breach notification statuses. If you’re interested in viewing the audit protocol, it’s available here, but we’ve put together this article to help inform and prepare you around a some essential audit points: What your HIPAA program should look like today What’s coming down the HIPAA pipeline in 2016 OIG’s take on the […]
Medical identity theft is very much out there; know the signs. After receiving medical treatment, many people never look over the paperwork (save for bill total) and just shove it into some folder in a file cabinet. Thieves steal identities to use the victim’s medical coverage, and this could prove life threatening to the victim depending on the victim’s health status. This is why you should keep records for all medical visits and treatments. Read everything carefully as though you’re searching for mistakes or mis-matched information. Keep records of all associated phone calls and e-mails. You’re denied coverage because you […]
Health insurance plans are indispensable. They allow us to get the care we need for less. However, in the data breach era we now live in, they also make us vulnerable to ID theft. Earlier in 2015, nearly 92 million records were exposed when three Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance plans became the victims of security breaches—becoming just another part of an ongoing trend. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, health care organizations comprised 42 percent of security breach victims in 2014 and have accounted for the highest percentage of hacks than any other business sector in the past […]
Medical ID theft is dangerous for your bank account, but it can also threaten your health. According to the Medical Identity Fraud Alliance, last year more than 2 million Americans were victims of medical identity theft. On average, each victim had to pay $13,500 in bills because of the identity theft. Medical identity theft is when a scammer steals your Medicare, Medicaid or health insurance number. They then use your medical identity to get medical care or prescriptions on your dime and access your financial information. “So they can steal your bank accounts, open other accounts in your name, apply […]
With the recent explosion of data breaches in the healthcare sector, it helps to take a look back at where we came from and how we got here. According to data Accenture collected from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, nearly 1.6 million people had their medication information stolen from healthcare providers last year. An informative infographic prepared by DataMotion Health, a provider of secure communications for the healthcare industry, estimates that a whopping 136 million healthcare records have been breached since 2005. Click here to read the full article. For a full-size version of the infographic, click […]
According to Experian, 42% of the major security/privacy breaches in 2014 related to healthcare organizations. In early 2015, three Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance plans suffered major security breaches which exposed close to 92 million consumer records. Patient medical identity theft is one outcome of these types of breaches. This occurs when an impostor bills your health plan for false or inflated claims, or when medical personnel obtain prescription drugs associated with your medical identity. These fraudulent healthcare claims are typically unnoticed until a victim seeks similar legitimate medical care and their claims are denied. Additionally, the integrity of the […]
Four senators are asking the Department of Health and Human Services what it’s doing to prevent data breaches at provider and payer organizations. In a letter to Andy Slavitt, acting administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and Jocelyn Samuels, director of the HHS Office for Civil Rights, the senators point to five major breaches in the past year–Anthem, Premera, Carefirst, Excellus and UCLA Health–that have affected up to 105 million people. The Senate Committee on Aging heard expert testimony in October on the identity theft risks among Medicare beneficiaries. Healthcare organizations are spending more on software to […]
Letter Demands Details on Efforts to ‘Support and Protect’ Victims. In the wake of massive health data breaches, four U.S. senators are demanding that the Department of Health and Human Services provide details about how it tracks medical identity theft and fraud and how it assists victims. While privacy and security experts say the ID theft issue deserves to be in the spotlight, one argues that there’s relatively little HHS can do to address the issue, given its limited resources and mission. In a Nov. 10 letter to Jocelyn Samuels, director of the HHS Office for Civil Rights, and Andy […]
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Read our study: Healthcare Industry Investments to Fight Medical Identity Fraud
The 2015 Healthcare Industry Investments to Fight Medical Identity Fraud looks at the types of investments and priorities the industry is making to detect, prevent and mitigate medical ID theft and fraud.
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See the 2014 Fifth Annual Study on Medical Identity Theft
The 2014 Fifth Annual Study on Medical Identity Theft measures the prevalence, extent, and impact of medical identity theft in the United States to consumers and the healthcare industry.