Do You Suspect That Your Medical Identity Has Been Stolen?

Medical identity theft is a very serious problem in the healthcare industry that has been growing at astonishingly rapid levels. In our previous three articles, we explained exactly what medical identify theft is, how common it has become, what criminals can do with your medical identity once they have access to it, and strategies that can help prevent you from becoming a victim of medical identity theft. However, being aware of what medical identity theft is and taking the steps necessary to prevent the crime does not necessarily guarantee that your medical identity will not be stolen. If you suspect that your medical identity has been compromised, there are several steps that you need to take to ensure that you minimize the damage done and are able get your medical identity and records back in proper order.

If My Medical Identity Has Been Compromised, What Steps Do I Take Next?

If you are actively monitoring your medical records by following the steps listed in the previous article, then you will likely be the first person to spot any abnormalities with your medical identity. If you believe that your medical identity has been compromised, then it is essential that you act quickly and take the following steps.

• Determine which healthcare provider the medical identity theft appears to have taken place at and contact their antifraud department, health information manager, or privacy officer. For example, if you see prescription orders in your records from Dr. Smith and you know that this is an error, then contact the proper authorities at that facility.
• Once you have contacted the appropriate facility, request an accounting breakdown of the disclosures of all treatments.
• Take notes on the conversations that you have with officials from the provider and be sure to include their names, contact information, and dates that you spoke with them.
• Make copies of any emails, letters, and messages that you have exchanged with the healthcare provider that pertain to the medical identity theft.
• Work with the healthcare provider to stop any further incorrect information from being distributed, to remove and correct any false information, and to figure out where the false information has been sent.
• File a police report and send copies of the report to your insurers, healthcare providers, banks, and credit card companies in order to inform them of the identity theft.
• Next, file complaints with the state attorney general, state insurance department, Identity Theft Data Clearinghouse, and Department of Health and Human Services to cover all of your bases.
• Once all reports and complaints have been filed and your records have been adjusted, go back and review all of your records to make sure everything has been corrected.
• Finally, update all pin numbers and passwords that are used for your accounts, websites, portals, email, and other private logins. Be sure to utilize lengthy, complex passwords (that include numbers, special characters, and upper and lower case letters) that only you will remember and avoid creating basic passwords.

How To Be Fully Prepared to Prevent Medical Identity Theft

Medical identity theft is a serious problem that is currently plaguing our healthcare system. With our four part article series, Order Medical Records hopes to help you become more aware of what this growing concern is and how you should respond to it if you are affected by it. It is unlikely that we will be able to completely eradicate medical identity theft, but by being aware of the issue and understanding what to watch for we can help significantly lower the number of unfortunate victims.

It is impossible to prevent medical identity theft without monitoring your own medical records and in order to do this, you need to have access to your records. If you currently do not have access to your medical records, you are making yourself very vulnerable to the threat of medical identity theft. At Order Medical Records, we believe that is our duty to provide people with everything they need to help maintain their health and we recognize how important personal medical records are. Allow us to gather your medical records for you so that you can be sure that your records are safe, accurate, and protected at all times which will help prevent you from becoming another victim of medical identity theft.