When patients get admitted to hospitals under stolen identities, they create intertwined medical records that can lead to potentially fatal medical errors, unpaid hospital bills, and denied insurance coverage for the individuals whose identities are stolen. The Los Angeles Times relates the stories of several victims of medical ID theft, which has affected 200,000 individuals, according to a federal report in 2003, and is growing as a result of the rising cost of medical care. Because of Healthcare Insurance Portability and Accountability Act privacy rules, hospitals have been reluctant to release medical records to victims of ID theft, making it impossible for the victims to purge imposters’ medical information--such as blood type, diagnoses, and surgeries--from their own records. And as electronic health records become more prevalent, not only will erroneous medical information propagate more easily through multiple providers’ systems, but also identity theft may increase as more people have access to the records. Although victims of credit card fraud are protected from financial loss, there are no protections for patients who incur medical bills for treatment they did not receive.
