Serving Harris, Galveston, Brazoria and Fort Bend Counties
HOUSTON
November Issue 2015
Inside This Issue
FIVE THINGS HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS CAN DO TO REDUCE MEDICAL IDENTITY THEFT By Mark ArmStrong, JD EBSTEIN BECKER GREEN
Harris Health to Help Fend off Cyberattacks See pg. 12
INDEX Money Matters..............pg.3 Mental Health...............pg.4 Oncology Research......pg.6 Healthy Heart................pg.8 The Framework............pg.10
Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children look at best Treatment for prolonged seizures See pg.19
Medical identity theft is the appropriation or misuse of a patient's or a provider's medical identifying information (such as a Medicare identification number) to fraudulently obtain or bill for medical care, prescription drugs, or supplies. It can lead to errors in patient medical records and may also lead to significant financial losses for patients as well as government and commercial payers. Medical identity theft is a growing problem. In 2014 alone, more than 3,300 physician and patient cases of medical identity theft were reported.
and credit card and bank account information or Protected Health Information (PHI), such as health history, medical diagnoses, services rendered, or health care billing or payment information, is stolen and Medical identities are misused misappropriated. While the theft of in two primary ways: (1) consensual such medical information can result – when an individual knowingly in significant financial loss, it can also provides her identity to someone result in patient harm when incorrect information in entered into a personal else in order to allow that person medical record. to obtain medical goods or services, Here are five simple things and (2) nonconsensual – when an individual does not know that healthcare providers can do to reduce someone is misusing her lost or the risk of medical identity theft: stolen identification. Under either 1. Tr a i n your Staff. approach, Personally Identifiable Conduct pre-employment Information (PII), such as Social background screening of all Security numbers, dates of birth, individuals who have access to patient information and medical records. Once qualified individuals are hired, they should be trained to identify potential dangers. For example, registration staff should be trained on how to monitor for suspicious patterns or practices, such as a patient using a suspicious driver's license or insurance card. Coding and business
office staff should be trained to report medical record inconsistencies with regard to patient history or treatment and unusual billing patterns. 2. Know your Patients. Require patients to show a copy of their health insurance card at registration. Consider requiring a photo ID and training employees to check whether the photograph and descriptive details (such as race, gender, height, weight and hair and eye color) match the ID. Place a photo of the patient in the EHR or supplementary database, however, a copy of government-issued ID, such as a driver’s license, should not be incorporated into the patients’ medical record as it may increase the risks of identity theft. 3. Educate your Patients. Healthcare providers should educate patients about their right to review and request corrections to their own see Medical Identity Theft page 24
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