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June 13, 2006
Medical Identity Theft
The World Privacy Forum has released a report on the problem of medical identity theft.
Medical Identity Theft: The Information Crime that Can Kill You (Released May 3, 2006), by Pam Dixon and Robert Gellman:
http://www.worldprivacyforum.org/medicalidentitytheft.html
With financial identity theft, you find that someone has stolen your identity to make use of your financial resources and credit. With medical identity theft, this may happen -- the thief may use your insurance or other resources, and you may also find that the identity thief has changed your medical records to include fictitious information. Examples included changing the bloodtype on record and adding psychiatric diagnoses.
Recommendations for personal protection include frequently requesting copies of your files, just as you should request copies of your credit report, and closely reviewing all communications from your insurance company. Practitioners need to be aware of this in order to question apparent inconsistencies between the record and the patient's reporting.
Posted by pfa at June 13, 2006 11:47 AM