The Medical Identity Fraud Alliance (MIFA), a public/private partnership committed to strengthening healthcare by reducing medical identity fraud, has released its annual study on the impact of medical identity theft, which reveals a concerning trend.
The Fifth Annual Study on Medical Identity Theft found the number of patients affected by medical identity theft increased nearly 22 percent in the last year, an increase of nearly half a million victims since 2013. In the five years since the survey began, the number of medical identity theft incidents has nearly doubled to more than two million victims.
The crime has become a national healthcare issue with the potential to cause life-threatening and hefty financial consequences for consumers. According to the report, 65 percent of victims surveyed paid more than $13,000 in out-of-pocket expenses to resolve the crime.
Key findings from the study include the following:
Medical identity theft is costly to consumers.
In 2014, medical identity theft cost consumers more than $20 billion. The number of victims experiencing out-of-pocket expenses rose significantly, from 36 percent in 2013 to 65 percent in 2014.
Medical identity theft is a complicated crime.
Victims are seldom informed by their healthcare provider or insurer. On average, victims learn about the theft of their personal information more than three months after the crime, and 30 percent do not know when they became a victim. Of those respondents (54 percent) who found an error in their Explanation of Benefits, about half did not know to whom to report the claim.
Resolution of medical identity theft is time-consuming and may never occur.
Due to Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy regulations, victims of medical identity theft must be involved in resolution of the crime. Only 10 percent of survey respondents reported achieving a completely satisfactory conclusion of the incident. Consequently, many respondents are at risk for further theft or errors in healthcare records that could jeopardize medical treatments and diagnoses, putting their health and life in danger.
Medical identity theft can cause embarrassment and negatively impact consumer confidence.
Nearly half of respondents (45 percent) said medical identity theft affected their reputation in some way. Of those, nearly 90 percent suffered embarrassment stemming from disclosure of sensitive personal health conditions, and more than 20 percent of respondents believed the theft caused them to miss out on career opportunities or lose employment.
Consumers expect healthcare providers to be proactive in preventing and detecting medical identity theft.
Although respondents were not confident in the security practices of their healthcare providers, the vast majority (79 percent) of respondents reported that they expected their healthcare providers to ensure the privacy of their health records. Forty-eight percent said they would consider changing healthcare providers if their medical records were lost or stolen. If a breach does occur, 40 percent expect prompt notification to come from the responsible organization.
For a copy of the report, visit http://tinyurl.com/oqftonh.
For information on preventing and/or resolving medical identity theft problems, visit http://tinyurl.com/d33cnp8.
This article was adapted from information provided by MIFA.
