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Medical identity theft occurs in instances whereby someone forges personal information to obtain medical services without consent or prior knowledge of the rightful owner of the information. The medical records of the rightful party are altered numerously. Fictitious records are created in the victim’s existing information. It has been observed that the theft presents several risks to the victim. The victim is not able to alter the records at a later date in their favor due to the victim’s limited resources. It follows that the person who is not the true owner continues to gain from the false information.
Identity thieves have disregarded attacks on financial accounts and their attention is shifting to cover cases of medical information. The thieves are rarely concerned about the medical ailments of the victims. The hardest part in medical identity theft is the fact that it is not easy to alter the records and return them to their normal status just like in financial accounts.
Victims are subjected to payment of millions of money that they have not in actual sense used. The rates of medical theft are rising every day and it is not possible to record a change in the near future. There are many challenges associated with curbing medical identity theft. International, as well as local organizations are coming up with ways through which they can completely deal with the rise in cases of medical identity theft (Smith and Sulanowski 52).
Medical identity theft is detrimental to the consumer since it is hard to sort out the information presented by both the genuine and the fake owner. The cost in the healthcare industry may, in many instances, be increased to alter the insurance maximums used. Healthcare services are becoming extremely costly due to medical identity theft. Policies to ensure that the culprits are identified and prosecuted have not, in many instances, been crafted.
The legal prohibition of the theft is found in section 530 of the California Penal Code. The major ingredient, according to the section of the law mentioned, is that the name has been used for the furtherance of unlawful things. The victim is prone to many issues, which include being a prey to future identity crimes. Opening of credit accounts is very common in such circumstances. In some cases the thieves take up loans and enjoy medical services without paying for them.
In advanced levels, they generate criminal records that are used to pursue new targets. Federal law offers protection to individuals and their medical files. The individual has a right to know the status of his or her medical files. The checking has the sole purpose of looking for errors and correcting them. The right extends to a level whereby one should call the doctor and make other communications with clinics, hospital and laboratories to make sure that their information is not used against them (Stickley 24).
It has not been easy to get the said records bearing in mind that the providers sometimes restrict people from accessing the records. The provider’s reasoning upon refusal is based on the fact that it violates the thief’s constitutional rights of the right to privacy. Every person has the right to check their files and consider whether there are changes that were not there during the time of filing the personal details. The person desiring to check the records should insist on having a constant check of their records.
On a complete refusal, one should appeal to be granted permission to check their files. The consistent checking of files is one of the key prevention measures to medical identity theft.
The right to check files is one of the many ways through which a person desiring to have a secure medical record should do. It is a duty vested on the medical service providers to be cautious when making alterations on the files of their clients. This will be of much help when working towards discovering theft of identity. Failure to let a party check whether their medical records are in conformity is actionable. Different states have step up ways of ensuring that medical identity theft cases are reduced (Roberson 13).
The individual’s rights to correct errors on their records should be emphasized to ensure protection. Through this method, individuals are able to remove the unneeded false information from the records of their information. This acts as an easier way of keeping a track record of what goes on in the medical files. It should be possible for medical identity theft victims to check their files and ascertain the accuracy of the files.
The rights to access historical files should be expanded to cover cases of medical identity theft. Notification of individuals on issues pertaining to medical theft breaches has been to prevent losses (Hayward 31). When a party seeks accounting disclosures, there are steps that are undertaken to ensure that the details are disclosed to the party willing to get it. Medical identity theft has the effect of exposing the health institution to suits. The best way to avoid suits is to keep proper records whereby changes are only effected with the authority of the records owners.
Medical identity theft is one of the most common forms of threats to the medical information. There should be a continued effort to deal with the vice collectively. The effect of health identity theft is increasing, thus requiring the victims, government and other facilities to come together to curb the crime. The critical points in addressing the crime must be put together collectively.
Economic recovery has a tie on the way some of the crimes are handled since consumers’ power to borrow is kept in the periphery. Spending of services that are not related to medical identity has been said to negatively affect economic recovery. The government and the healthcare providers should team up to create an environment that is free and able to deal with cases of medical identity theft (Hayward 32).
In an instance where the hospital suspects that an inpatient is a suspect of medical theft admission, there are several salient issues to be put into consideration. They are basically designed to ensure that the medical facility is protected, while at the same time ensuring that there is protection of information. The hospital ought to report the patient to the authorities after carefully reviewing the documents and ascertaining that the patient is a medical identity thief. This calls for meticulous review of historical records to avoid making a mistake. In some circumstances, the suspect may be in a worse medical condition.
The doctors have a duty to evaluate between their duty to save lives and the duty to make sure that their client is not defrauded. In order to determine the overriding duty, the question to be answered is a question of ethics. For the hospital to avoid liability based on negligent, it is important that the suspect is treated before calling the authorities.
The doctors and the hospital would be liable in negligence and breach of statutory duty if they turn the suspect to the authorities without any treatment. It should also be observed that without turning the suspect to the authorities may mean that the doctors have aided and abetted medical identity theft (Camp and Eric 54).
The hospital should treat the suspect to be on the safe side. The police officers should be informed while the suspect is undergoing treatment. This will make the hospital and the doctors safe from any liability. Any complaint filed by the suspect in regard to the intrusion in the privacy of the suspect can be easily dealt with. The hospital can defend itself by showing that it was checking the details to know the right prescription.
The suspect may find it hard to counter the charges. Caution should be taken to ensure that the information relied on is accurate. It is the duty of the hospital to make sure that the information is true since failure to do that is disastrous to the doctors and the hospital. The essential methods to achieve validity should be used. The health insurance company ought to be contacted in this case to offer its opinion regarding the steps to be taken.
The health service provider and the credit reporting agencies should team up to avoid any errors. The service provider should be careful since it may lose a lot of money once the suspect has been treated without assuring the hospital on the ways to pay. Informing the police and the victim is important to avoid accusations of the medical service provider having colluded with the suspect (Arata 23).
It is easier to prevent medical identity theft. The service provider should continue reviewing the records of the clients to ascertain their validity. This can be achieved through calling the clients and making sure they check their files from time to time to confirm their true identity. In cases whereby a suspect is detected, the police and credit financiers should be called upon to ensure that the suspect is prosecuted. Prosecution may in many cases deter potential crimes.
However, the essential steps that every victim should take are to confirm that their records are in good order. Service providers may not detect those cases easily bearing in mind that every individual is protected from any intrusion.
Hospitals are supposed to respect individual rights to privacy. This protects the hospital and the doctors from liability. The constitutional right of privacy should be adhered to during the said operations. Records should only be provided to their owners. The exception to the right of privacy should be superseded by the right of persons to access their records. Guided by the said exception, it becomes clear that the right to privacy is to be surpassed to achieve the overriding objective. In California, the Penal Code has outlawed medical identity theft by classifying it in other classes of theft.
Works Cited
Arata, Michael J. Identity Theft for Dummies. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2010. Print.
Camp, Jean, and Eric Johnson. The Economics of Financial and Medical Identity Theft. New York, NY: Springer, 2012. Print.
Hayward, Claudia L. Identity Theft. Hauppauge, NY: Novinka Books, 2004. Print.
Roberson, Cliff. Identity Theft Investigations. New York, NY: Kaplan, 2008. Print.
Smith, Robert E, and Sulanowski James. Compilation of State and Federal Privacy Laws. Providence, RI: Privacy Journal, 2002. Print.
Stickley, Jim. The Truth about Identity Theft. Upper Saddle River, NJ: FT Press, 2009. Print.
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