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Health & Fitness

Privacy Awareness Week: Maintaining Medical Privacy in an Online World

Asked to help lead bipartisan efforts to protect the privacy of Minnesotans' medical, financial and online data, Rep. Joe Atkins examines current and emerging data privacy issues.

My dad had surgery recently. Not surprisingly, I think he may have been more worried about the bill than he was about the actual surgery.

With everything in the news about Fairview Health Services and a medical debt collector called Accretive Health, my dad's concern is understandable. Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson filed a lawsuit in January accusing Accretive — a medical debt collector — of violating state and federal privacy and debt collection laws. Swanson’s investigation showed examples of the detailed patient records Accretive Health's debt collectors had access to as they tried to recover medical debts. State and federal laws only allow debt collectors to have access to the most basic information needed to collect debts. A settlement was recently reached and as a result, Accretive has been barred from Minnesota for at least two years and will pay $2.5 million.

All of this raises questions about medical privacy. Each of us has a right to privacy, a right that extends to our medical records and history. Laws currently in place prohibit the use of detailed information by debt collectors, but those laws must be enforced, as Attorney General Swanson is working to do. Beyond this, medical identity theft has become the latest twist on identity theft.

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In medical identity theft, thieves use your personal and health insurance information to get medical treatment, prescription drugs or surgery or submit false bills to insurance companies.

According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, you may be a victim of medical identity theft if: (a) you get a bill for medical services you didn’t receive; (b) a debt collector contacts you about medical debt you don’t owe; (c) you order a copy of your credit report and see medical collection notices you don’t recognize; (d) you try to make a legitimate insurance claim and your health plan says you’ve reached your limit on benefits; or (e) you are denied insurance because your medical records show a condition you don’t have.

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Medical identity theft could even change your medical and health insurance records. Every time a thief uses your identity to get care, a record is created with the imposter’s medical information that could be mistaken for your medical information – say, a different blood type, an inaccurate history of drug or alcohol abuse, test results that aren’t yours, or a diagnosis of an illness, allergy or condition you don’t have. Any of these could lead to improper treatment, which in turn, could lead to injury, illness or worse.

There are some things you can do to reduce your risk of medical identity theft. Be sure to verify a source before sharing information. Don’t give out personal information by mail or the phone unless you absolutely know with whom you’re dealing. Safeguard your medical and health insurance information. Be cautious when sharing medical information online and make sure the source is secure. Finally, treat your trash carefully. Shred health insurance or medical documents.

In addition to reviewing your credit reports annually to look for any discrepancies, read the “Explanation of Benefits” (EOB) summary that you are sent after treatment. Make sure the claims paid match the care you received. Look for the name of the provider, the date of service, and the service provided. If there’s a discrepancy, contact your health plan to report the problem.

Finally, if you believe you’ve already been a victim of medical identity theft, ask to see your medical records. Ensure that all of your records have accurate information. Then file reports with the Federal Trade Commission and your local police. For more information on how to protect yourself from medical identity theft and how to recover if you’re a victim, please visit http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/idtheft/idt10.shtm.

As always, I welcome comments on this issue, either by posting below, emailing me at Rep.Joe.Atkins@house.mn, taking my survey at www.facebook.com/State.Rep.Joe.Atkins, or by giving me a call at the Capitol at 296-4192.

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