The Perils of Medical Identity Theft

Simply stated, medical identity theft occurs when someone obtains medical services or goods (or compensation for those medical services or goods) in your precious name. Medical identity theft is a growing problem that accounts for just over three percent of identity theft cases.

Though not as prevalent as other types of fraud, medical identity theft can have significant, even deadly, consequences. Victims of medical identity theft not only suffer from the potential financial implications present in the more typical types of identity theft, such as having unpaid bills that are in their name and damaged credit to go along with it, but perhaps even inaccurate details in their medical records.

Imagine for a moment having medications listed in your medical records that you’re allergic to. Or how about having your blood type changed or other information that might lead to treatments that you should never have? Certainly, victims of medical identity theft have more to worry about than just the financial implications — their health, even their life is at risk.

Victims of medical identity theft often find it a difficult mess to clean up. The doctors who provided treatment to the impostor continue to want to get paid. They can institute collection efforts and levy judgments against the victim and even refuse to treat the victim in the future. And since there is no well-established process to deal with medical identity theft, as there might be in other types of fraud, the victims have a difficult time knowing where to turn and how to clean up their medical records.

While medical identity theft indeed presents some challenges to the victim, medical providers can also be victimized. They suffer the loss of reimbursement for provided services, which can be in the tens of thousands of dollars, as well as damage to the reputation of their organization or practice.

To make matters worse, it might not be just that medical service that the identity crook is looking for. Protected Health Information (PHI) has become a hot commodity, and a name attached to medical and insurance information can yield as much as $60 per record on the black market. Crooks that obtain hundreds or even thousands of records can make a fortune in a short period of time by selling these records on the black market to those who are uninsured and desperately looking for medical treatment. There is no doubt that medical identity theft is a growing problem that is costing its victims not only their financial future, but perhaps also their future physical well-being.

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