Imagine you receive a collections notice from a hospital 1,000 miles away … in a city you’ve never visited … for a surgery you’ve never had … for a health problem you don’t have … and the notice says you owe more money than your house is worth.
You have to take immediate action, but be warned: Whoever had the surgery might be recovering better than you will.
Start with the financial impact.
Step 1. Place a fraud alert on your credit reports, and review your credit reports.
Step 2. Close your credit card accounts and open new ones with new PINs and passwords. Talk to the fraud department with each company.
Step 3. File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission and print copies of your FTC ID Theft Complaint Form.
Step 4. File a report with your local law enforcement. Ask them to incorporate the FTC Complaint Form.
Correcting errors in your medical records will be harder, and might be impossible. Worse still, misinformation in your file might be life threatening. The same HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) Act intended to protect your medical privacy might work against you because once you indicate that someone else’s medical information is in your file, his or her privacy must also be protected.
Also, any medical providers who didn’t put the erroneous information in your records are not obligated to correct it, nor are insurance companies.
The information in your record might have been sent to a laboratory, a surgeon, a medical specialist, a medical imaging center, an insurance company, a hospital, an anesthesiologist, a home health provider, a physical therapist and a pharmacy.
Patients with primary care doctors with whom they have a good relationship might find them to be their best ally because all medical information should be copied to their offices.
You’re definitely going to need an ally.
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Tags: Federal Trade Commission, HIPAA, LifeLock promotion code, Medical ID theft, Medical Identity Theft
