Protect Yourself From Medical Identity Theft

Like most people, you try to guard your social security number, bank account and credit card information. It's also important to protect your "medical identity." This refers to your personal health records.

More than a quarter million people were victims of medical identity theft in 2005. That's nearly three times as many as four years earlier.

How your identity is used
There are different types of medical identity theft. Someone may steal your identity to get medication illegally. Others may falsely bill Medicare and Medicaid. For instance, they may use your Medicare information to bill the government for equipment or care that was never received.

If your medical identity is stolen, false information can appear in your medical records. This can cause serious harm. If you go to an emergency room, for example, false information may be in that hospital's system.

How can that happen? Let's say someone uses your Social Security or insurance number, then has blood work during a hospital visit. The thief's blood type is B, but yours is A. Type B is then entered into your medical record. If you go to the emergency room, your records will say you have type B blood. This could be disasterous if the error isn't discovered and corrected.

How can you protect yourself from medical identity theft?

• Give personal information to doctors and healthcare workers only.
• Request your records from anyone who treats you.

State laws vary on how long medical records must be kept. Call ahead to be sure your records are available. To get your records, you'll need to give your date of birth, full name (including any name changes) and the date you were seen.

Look over your records to make sure they're correct. Tell the doctor or hospital if corrections need to be made. Review your records on a regular basis.

According to the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), all insurers and health care providers must give you your medical records and a copy of their privacy practices. If your records have errors, they have 90 days to respond. If they disagree with you, HIPAA doesn't require them to correct the information. Also, HIPAA offers little help in resolving disputes.

Only a few states have considered or passed laws to help protect against medical identity theft. Those states are California, Florida, Nevada, Arkansas and Delaware. For now, it's your responsibility to review your own records.

Correcting the problem
Once your medical identity is stolen, it isn't easy to fix the problem. It can be hard to track down every location that may have false information.

If you think someone has stolen your medical identity, call one of these numbers:

• The US Health and Human Services Fraud Hotline at 1-800-447-8477
• The Federal Trade Commission's ID Theft Hotline at 1-877-438-4338

Related Articles Don't Get Cheated by Health Fraud Own Your Own Health Take Charge to Avoid Mistakes

External Sources US Dept. of Health & Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Protecting Medicare and you from fraud. Accessed April 28, 2007. World Privacy Forum. Medical identity theft: the information crime that can kill you, Spring 2006. Accessed April 23, 2007.

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