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Article: Mistaken identities: Medical identity theft leaves messy wake.
- Article from:
- Employee Benefit News
- Article date:
- April 15, 2007
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 SourceMedia, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Imagine that one of your employees is hospitalized for weeks after being given the wrong medication, or living in pain after being denied access to a needed surgery, because someone stole their medical identity. This type of fraud is indeed real, and can leave workers sick, stressed and less productive on the job as they remedy the problem.
In perpetuating this crime, identity thieves pretend to be someone else to obtain insurance coverage or medical treatment that had been previously denied, tainting their victims' medical records in the process. At least 19,428 individuals filed complaints concerning medical identity theft at the Federal Trade Commission from ...