As electronic medical record keeping becomes more common, so does medical identity theft, a dangerous type of fraud in which patients who are victimized end up having to pay back the money out of their own pockets, new research shows.

 

An estimated 2.32 million American adults were victims of medical identity theft as of 2014, up from the 1.84 million estimated in 2013, which is a 22 percent jump in this specific kind of fraud, according to the Ponemon Institute, which conducted the research.

 

Medical identity theft occurs when someone steals your personal information (like your name, Social Security number, or Medicare number) to obtain medical care, buy drugs, or submit fake billings to Medicare in your name.

 

Moreover, victims had to pay up when it happened. The average victim said it cost $13,500 to resolve the crime, including repaying the insurer for services obtained by the thief, paying the provider, and engaging an identity service provider or legal counsel. Also, due to the confusing nature of an incident, only 10 percent of those who were victimized felt they achieved a satisfactory conclusion of the incident.

 

Healthcare providers are to blame, say many of the victims. More than half blame their provider directly. Furthermore, nearly half would consider switching providers if their medical records were lost or stolen. Nearly everyone who was surveyed said that the provider should reimburse people whose medical record has been stolen, the report said.