Protecting Your Medical Information from Identity Theft
Have you thought medical identity theft wouldn’t happen to you? Is your thought “why would anyone want my medical information?” Well, they don’t want your “medical history” — they want your insurance information. They might be out of work, or have a friend who needs assistance, or belong to an identity theft ring, and is in it for the money they can earn by selling your medical identity! Today it is more valuable then just your social security number.
When your medical information is stolen and used by someone to seek treatment, your own medical history will change. You may receive bills from doctors you have never seen or even heard of. You may discover they have a different blood type, or have cancer. Then to remove the mis-information and change your information back to who ‘you really are’ becomes an arduous task in itself. Also, you might find yourself responsible for bills that are not yours, and this affects your credit rating when it goes to collections!
Be proactive, protect your medical identity by asking your physician the following questions:
Does s/he do a complete background check on his employees?
Does s/he encrypt the records in his office?
If you should change physicians, what happens to those records? Does s/he outsource billing and receivables and if so, are they cleared as well. You want to know who is in his office and if there are prying eyes or someone who can walk off with all your information on a device such as a laptop or flash drive with all your electronic health information?
Read this article from Fox Business News and see why your medical information and insurance are a valued resource in the the black market; and why it is so difficult to keep your information PRIVATE: http://www.foxbusiness.com/on-air/willis-report/blog/2013/05/21/protect-yourself-against-medical-identity-theft..
And then call me or email me for solutions available to protect and recover your identity in the event that your identity is compromised or stolen
310-831-4400
Tags: computer hard drives, computer security, data, data security, electronic health records, HHS, identity fraud, Medical IdentityTheft
This Entry was posted by Linda Vincent
Monday, June 3rd, 2013 / Electonic identity theft, Fraud, Health Care Fraud, Identity Theft, Medical IdentityTheft.
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