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Medical
Identity
Theft
or
Identity
Fraud:
Can
You
Afford
the
Results?
Linda Vincent, RN, PI
Principal
Vincent & Associates
The Identity Advocate
San Pedro, California
© Vincent & Associates. Reprints available by permission
Goals
• What are the primary types of Medical and Identity theft
• How it happens-why critical information is stolen
• Why you should be concerned
• What to do to prevent and protect you and your employees identity, medical identity • What to do when it happens
PRESENTATION TITLE GOES HERE [EDIT IN HEADER & FOOTER SECTION (APPLY TO ALL)]
Identity
Theft—a
Growing Industry
• 1 in 4 lose their identity-2012-increase 13% – 11.6 million victims
• 1 in 8 lose their medical identity
• 1 in 10 people affected by Data Breach • Fastest growing white collar crime
– Now more than drug or prostitution
• Identity theft now occurs every 2 seconds • Identity recovery—9-600 hours
What
Criminals
Steal
• Names, addresses, date of birth
• Employment or healthcare information • Social Security numbers
• Drivers license or credit cards
Who
Steals
Your Information?
• Relatives/friends
• Organized crime rings
• Corrupt healthcare workers • Mail thieves
• Cyber Thieves=Hackers=Data Breaches
How Identity is Stolen
• Dumpster diving • Mail theft
• Check washing • Stolen wallets
• Telephone and E-mail Scams
• Obtaining deceased people’s information
The Price of Identity
• Social Security Number – Street value—$1.00
• Medical Identity Information
– Street value—
$50.00
– ‘Kitz’ available online criminal bazaars for $1,200 plus.
• Include a valid health insurance card • A supporting photo I.D
• Possibly a credit card
First Group Most Vulnerable
• The Elderly
– Boomers are very credit worthy
– Own children often take their ID for financial reasons – Less social media savvy
– Fall prey to online and door to door scams – Grandchildren scam
Second Most Vulnerable
• Children
– Clean slate
– Easier to get credit
– Watch if credit card aps come in mail – Sign them up for creditkarma.com
– Kids DO NOT need SSN for school . . . don’t give it to them
– Teach children what to share
– Be aware of Facebook . . . and shares
Third Most Vulnerable
• The Dead
– Scammers watch obituaries
– Death registry with social security is always behind – Proceed through permanent optoutprescreen.com – Lastly do not write an obituary with all important
dates of life
– In 2011, CMS paid $23 million to more than 17,000 deceased Medicare members
Fourth
Most Vulnerable
• Veterans
– Away from home for long periods of time – Good health care coverage
– Experienced one of country’s largest data thefts
Fifth Most Vulnerable
• Movie Stars/Sports Figures
– Seems to happen for the rush – Good health care
– Frequently imposters look like sports figure aren’t asked to ID
Last Group
• Those who post to social media
– From phone . . . while away
– From iPads . . . I'm at Starbucks – Birthday parties of children
– Geo-tagging from Facebook and other social sites
What
Is
Medical Identity Theft?
• Stolen or shared Member information • Improper or Fictitious beneficiaries • Stolen Physician information
• Healthcare ID cards compromised or shared • HealthCare Data Breaches
Why Medical ID Theft Occurs
• Numbers of active workers vs number of retirees
• Higher premium share, deductibles, treatment co-pays
• High unemployment • Changing benefits
• Confusion/controversy over ACA • Security of the ‘Navigators’ in HCR
Who Steals your Medical Identity
• Dishonest patients
• Dishonest providers (individuals or institutions)
• Professional criminals/bogus providers • Hackers
• Other parties to the system
– Dishonest billing services – Dishonest payer employees
– Non-practitioner “ring” participants
• Attorneys
• Recruiters/“cappers”
Latest Ponemon Survey
• Of 80 healthcare organizations 52% had one or more incidents of medical identity theft
over the past 12 months.
• Statistics (from IDTRC) as of July 1, 2014 there have been 381 breaches exposing 10,900,850 records
• Data Breaches average 416 days to detect • Breaches often reported by 3rd party
Medical Identity Theft the Impact
• Death
• Medical records in shambles • Physical harm
• Credit issues
• Employment issues
• On the hook for $22,000
• Recovery and dispute resolution taking more than a year
Medical Identity Fraud—
By the Numbers
• About 5.8% of ID theft crimes are Medical ID Theft
– 1.5 million victims
• 94% of providers have HC information breeches
– Patient or health plan information – Affected over 6 million Americans
– Estimated costs to HC industry $7 billion (Ponemon Institute)
Scary statistics
Only 1 in 700 identity thieves arrested
Medical ID Theft Statistics
• The amount victims pay each to resolve cases. More than half say they had to pay for medical care they didn't receive in order to
restore health coverage.
• Nearly half of victims also lost health coverage due to the fraud, and nearly one-third said their health premiums rose after they were victimized—$20,000
• The percentage of medical fraud victims who say their incidents were completely resolved.—<10
• Americans who have been victimized by medical identity theft— 1.5 million
• Percent of Americans age 18-49 carry their Social Security card in their wallet, putting them at risk for medical identity theft—36%
• Percent of Americans age 50 and over do the same—43% Source: Employee Benefit News, December 2011
Data Source: www.Insurancefraud.org
Data Breaches
• 94% of providers have HC information breeches
– Patient or health plan information – Affects 1.5 million Americans
– Medical ID theft occurs in 24% of breaches
• Common—stolen health care laptop • Hacking—because hacker can
Top Data Breaches
• Adobe breach rated the largest ever, leaking 152 million records
• Target breach, in at number 5 exposing 110 million records
• Pinterest API in March responsible for 70 million records lost
Top Healthcare Data Breaches
• Tricare—4,901,432 pts—loss of backup tapes • Health Net—1,9000,000—unknown reason • AVMed, Inc—1,220,000—laptop theft
• Blue Shield TN—1,023,209—hard drive theft
Top 3 Medical Data Breaches
in 2013
• Advocate Medical Group
– People Affected: 4,029,530
• AHMC Healthcare, CA
– People Affected: 729,000
• Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital
Fort Worth
– People Affected: 277,014
Cyber Crime
•
According to the 4th Annual Cost of Cyber Crime Study:•
$11.6 million: The average cost of acyber attack
– 122: The number of success attacks per week – 26 %: The increase in cyber attacks in one year
Other Cyber Issues
• Protecting your mobile devices – What are the choices
• What using the cloud can mean – Hijacking
– Ransom (Cyptolocker) • Hacking as a whole
– Norton's newest report claims 70% of the 18-34 year-old Internet users they spoke with have been victims of online fraud.
• Do you offer protection for and within your business – 256 bit encryption
– Cloud storage
5 Cyber Solutions
• Add Keepass or Lastpass to tablets
– https://lastpass.com/ or http://keepass.info/
• Add Lookout or Avast to cell phones
– https://www.lookout.com or http://www.avast.com/en-us/index
• Add Ccleaner to computer and laptops
– http://download.cnet.com/CCleaner/
• Use ‘Malwarebytes’ for key logger detection
– http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html
• Consider paid VPN for email and online communication
First Steps to Prevent Identity Theft
• SHRED EVERYTHING!
• Review credit reports 1x/yr—each agency
– Sign up for CreditKarma—free monitoring
• Place a fraud alert on credit bureaus
• Place a credit freeze with each credit bureau
– Can mean unfreezing at later date
• Use gel pens
• Make a copy of contents of your wallet
• Never put your social security number on your checks, or carry it
7 Ways to Avoid Medical
Identity Theft
• Always check EOBs (explanation of benefits)
• Request/review/ annual ‘benefits paid’ from insurer • Keep your own copies of all your health records
• Eliminate SSN and total DoBs from records • Never share your health insurance card
• Shred all medical documents
• Never partake of “free” medical care
• Don’t throw away prescription bottles with name and info on it.
• Report and replace lost/stolen insurance cards
6 Things to do When it Happens to
YOU
• Call 877-ID-Theft (438-4338)—FTC
• Call Police—file a police report
• Put a fraud alert on your credit report-then freeze it
• Get a copy of your credit reports
• Call your bank
• Cancel credit cards
Opt Out of Pre-Approved Credit
Cards or Junk Mail
• Call 888-567-8688
• Visit www.optoutprescreen.com
• Mail Preference Service
– Direct Marketing Association
– P.O. Box 643, Carmel, NY 10512
Individual Credit Agencies
• Equifax—www.equifax.com 800.525.6285
– Ordering single credit report 800.685.1111
• Experian—www.experian.com 888.397.3742
– Also 800.311.4769
• Transunion—www.tuc.com 800.680.7289
– Also 800.916.8800-fraud alerts
• Social Security Administration 800.269.0271 • Federal Trade Commission 877.382.4357 • IRS Theft Hotline at 800-908-4490
