Safeguard Your Health: Are you a victim of medical fraud?

Health insurance is meant to safeguard your access to essential treatments, preventive services, and emergency care. Unfortunately, it’s also become a lucrative target for scammers looking to cash in at your expense.

In a shocking incident earlier this year, Change Healthcare suffered a massive cyber-attack, impacting thousands of healthcare providers, insurers, and policyholders across the country. Alarming reports suggest that up to 50% of all U.S. medical claims could be at risk! Imagine sitting in a waiting room with nine others—there’s a strong chance that five of you could fall victim to medical identity theft within the next year. The consequences of such fraud are far-reaching, potentially jeopardizing your access to the care you need. Once your medical information is exposed online, identity thieves can exploit it to file false claims, obtain costly prescriptions, and more—all billed directly to your account.

The most distressing part? Many people don’t realize they’ve been affected until it’s too late. Some are dealing with tax or mortgage fraud, while others discover the issue when they try to schedule a procedure, only to receive a rejection letter from their insurance provider. The reason? Their benefits have supposedly been exhausted due to multiple procedures—procedures they never actually had. Someone else has used their medical ID for unauthorized treatments.

It’s not just individual patients at risk—entire organizations can fall prey to sophisticated billing schemes. In these cases, fraudsters submit false claims for medical services you never requested or received, pocket the insurance payout, and leave you with the bill. Just recently, 193 defendants, including 76 licensed medical professionals, were charged for their roles in healthcare fraud schemes totaling $2.75 billion in false billings to federal programs. Medical fraud is a real and growing threat.

How to Recognize If You’re a Victim

Here are 10 warning signs that your medical ID may have been stolen and is being used by cybercriminals:

  1. Unexpected Medical Bills: Receiving bills for services you never received is a major red flag.
  2. Collection Notices: Debt collectors are contacting you about unpaid medical bills that aren’t yours.
  3. Errors in Medical Records: You notice treatments you never had, incorrect diagnoses, or unfamiliar medical histories in your records.
  4. Insurance Issues: Your health insurance claims are denied due to maxed-out benefits or coverage limits, despite not using the services.
  5. Notifications from Your Insurance Provider: You receive alerts about claims or services you don’t recognize.
  6. Unknown Accounts: Discovering new health insurance accounts or medical records in your name that you didn’t create.
  7. Discrepancies in Your Explanation of Benefits (EOB): Your EOB statements list services you never received.
  8. Being Denied Insurance: You have trouble obtaining life or health insurance due to medical conditions you don’t have.
  9. Calls from Medical Providers: You receive calls about appointments or follow-ups for treatments you never had.
  10. Unfamiliar Prescriptions: You get notices about prescriptions being filled in your name that you did not authorize.

How to Protect Yourself from Medical ID Fraud

Don’t wait until you’re the next victim. Here are steps you can take to protect yourself:

  1. Check for Healthcare Breaches: Use searchable databases to find out if your healthcare information has been compromised.
  2. Secure Your Records: Store paper copies of medical records in a safe or lockbox. If your healthcare organization’s system is compromised, you’ll have your records safely stored.
  3. Shred Documents: Always shred documents with personal information before disposing of them.
  4. Monitor Your Medical Records: Regularly request and review your medical records for unfamiliar treatments, diagnoses, or discrepancies.
  5. Review Insurance Bills: Carefully review your EOB statements for any services you didn’t receive. Report any discrepancies to your insurer immediately and notify credit bureaus of any billing errors via IdentityTheft.gov.
  6. Dispose of Prescription Labels: Remove labels from empty prescription bottles before discarding them to prevent identity theft.
  7. Monitor Your Credit: Regularly check your credit reports at AnnualCreditReport.com for any suspicious activity.

Healthcare will always be a vital service, and unfortunately, it will also always be a target for cybercriminals. Attacks on hospitals, doctors’ offices, and other medical facilities are not going away. It’s crucial to take proactive measures to protect yourself. At Diverse CTI, we can help you assess your risk with a FREE Dark Web Scan. Using advanced technology, we can quickly determine if your information has been exposed on the dark web or if you’ve been a victim of a data breach. To book your Dark Web Scan, call us at 405-210-3000 or click here.

Stay vigilant, stay protected, and trust Diverse CTI to safeguard your health information from cyber threats.