When we talk about ID theft in the healthcare sector, we usually think of patients’ identities being stolen. Occasionally, though, I’ve seen reports where providers’ identities were stolen to further some other scheme such as obtaining prescription medications or insurance fraud. The National Post in Canada has this story about how common this latter type of professional identity theft is becoming.
Tom Blackwell reports:
Magnolia Soria could hardly believe what the insurance auditor was telling her. The company had received several claims for health services supposedly provided by the Toronto-area occupational therapist, even though Ms. Soria had never met the patients, did not perform the work and had nothing to do with the invoices.
In fact, one of the forms bearing her name and professional registration number was for an appointment that purportedly took place on a day she was in hospital, giving birth to her daughter.
Ms. Soria had been victimized by a brazen scheme that insurance investigators and professional regulators say is becoming increasingly common in Canada’s health-care system: the theft of medical professionals’ identity to obtain insurance payments for services that are either never rendered, or carried out by unqualified personnel.
Read more in the National Post.