<p>Indentity Theft Healthcare</p>
<p><span class="byline">Publication Date: March 2010 <br />
<a href="http://www.smartcardalliance.org/pages/publications-medical-identity-theft-in-healthcare">Original Appearance: Medical Identity Theft in Healthcare</a></span>  <br />
<a href="http://www.zdnet.co.uk/2010/07/14/"><em>Original Appearance: Thousands of laptops stolen from US military contractor.</em></a></p>
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<h1><strong>While identity theft is a global issue that garners much media attention, most do not realize that medical identity theft is a serious and growing threat. Many authorities consider medical identity theft one of the fastest growing crimes in America.</strong></h1>
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<p>With the digital age of healthcare upon us, the risks are expected to increase as electronic medical records become more prevalent and the exchange of this data over expanding networks becomes more pervasive. Heightened concern over personal data security and privacy highlight the importance of having secure electronic medical identities.</p>
<p><strong>1.5 Million Victims of Medical Identity Theft</strong> According to a recent Ponemon Institute study, nearly 1.5 million Americans have been victims of medical identity theft with an estimated total cost of $28.6 billion &ndash; or approximately $20,000 per victim.</p>
<p>[1] Further evidence of the significance of the medical fraud problem is the allocation of $1.7 billion for fraud detection in the 2011 U.S. Health and Human Services Department budget.  <br />
[2] In 2009, 68 reported healthcare data breaches in the U.S. put over 11.3 million patient records at risk of exposure.  <br />
[3] Two notable instances are the Health Net breach and the Virginia Department of Health Professions breach.</p>
<p>Health Net (a Connecticut-based health insurance plan) reported the loss of a hard drive containing seven years of personal and medical information on about 1.5 million Health Net customers. They reported the lost drive six months after it disappeared. [4]   Virginia Department of Health Professions was the victim of a $10 million extortion plot to expose over 8 million patient records and 35 million prescriptions. [5]</p>
<p>Patients whose medical identities are stolen face serious lingering effects. Fraudulent healthcare events can leave erroneous data in medical records. This erroneous information &ndash; like information about tests, diagnoses and procedures &ndash; can greatly affect future healthcare and insurance coverage and costs. Patients are often unaware of medical identity theft until a curious bill or a surprising line of questioning by a doctor exposes the issue. Then, the burden of proof is often with the patient and it can be difficult to get the patient&rsquo;s legitimate medical records cleaned up. The consequences can also be life threatening and can lead to serious medical errors and fatalities.</p>
<p><a href="http://envoy.primaryhub.com/www.smartcardalliance.org/pages/publications-medical-identity-theft-in-healthcare">Read More &gt;&gt;&gt;</a></p>
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