RESUMEN
Medical identity theft--when someone steals your personal data to get prescription drugs, doctor care, or surgery--is dramatically on the rise. Such a crime can endanger your own treatment and trash your finances. Learn who's most at risk and how to protect yourself from becoming a victim.
Asunto(s)
Robo de Identidad Médica/prevención & control , Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act , Humanos , Privacidad/legislación & jurisprudencia , Estados UnidosRESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Medical identity theft refers to the misuse of another individual's identifying medical information to receive medical care. Beyond the financial burden on patients, hospitals, health insurance companies, and government insurance programs, undetected cases pose major patient safety challenges. Inaccuracies in the medical record may persist even after the theft has been identified because of restrictions imposed by patient privacy laws. Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH; Boston) has conducted initiatives to prevent medical identity theft and to better identify and respond to cases when they occur. METHODS: Since 2007, MGH has used a notification tree to standardize reporting of red flag incidents (warning signs of identity theft, such as suspicious personal identifiers or account activity). A Data Integrity Dashboard allows for tracking and reviewing of all potential incidents of medical identity theft to detect trends and targets for mitigation. An identity-checking policy, VERI-(Verify Everyone's Identity) Safe Patient Care, requires photo identification at every visit and follow-up if it is not provided. RESULTS: Data from MGH suggest that an estimated 120 duplicate medical records are created each month, 25 patient encounters are likely tied to identity theft or fraud each quarter, and 14 patients are treated under the wrong medical record number each year. As of December 2013, 80%-85% of patients were showing photo identification at appointments. CONCLUSION: Although an organization's policy changes and educational campaigns can improve detection and reconciliation of medical identity theft cases, national policies should be implemented to streamline the process of correcting errors in medical records, reduce the financial disincentive for hospitals to detect and report cases, and create a single point of entry to reduce the burden on individuals and providers to reconcile cases.
Asunto(s)
Confidencialidad , Hospitales Generales/organización & administración , Robo de Identidad Médica/prevención & control , Sistemas de Registros Médicos Computarizados/organización & administración , Boston , Humanos , Seguridad del PacienteAsunto(s)
Seguridad Computacional/normas , Confidencialidad/normas , Registros Electrónicos de Salud/normas , Robo de Identidad Médica/prevención & control , Participación de la Comunidad/métodos , Seguridad Computacional/legislación & jurisprudencia , Confidencialidad/legislación & jurisprudencia , Registros Electrónicos de Salud/legislación & jurisprudencia , Humanos , Robo de Identidad Médica/legislación & jurisprudencia , Estados UnidosRESUMEN
Medical identity theft is a crime with two victims: patients and providers. It is easy to commit and lucrative because healthcare record keeping and business interactions are complex and mainly electronic. Patients whose identity has been stolen are vulnerable to both medical error and financial loss. Providers may suffer both reputation loss and financial loss. There are steps to help prevent and to respond appropriately to medical identity theft.