Home Health & Hospice Week

It’s a common complaint: You ask your patient for her Medicare card and she doesn’t want to turn it over because it includes her Social Security Number (SSN). Because Americans are increasingly warned not to share their SSN with anyone, this creates a problem both for agencies that need a copy of the Medicare card and for beneficiaries who are wary of identity theft.

A recent OIG recommendation may change that. On March 24, OIG Deputy Inspector General Gary Cantrell testified before Congress about Medicare fraud, and the SSN issue was on his mind.

“Removing Social Security numbers from Medicare cards is one step that would help protect the PII [personally identifiable information] of Med-icare beneficiaries,” Cantrell said in his testimony. “Experts in health care program integrity advise that Medical Identity Theft is a prevalent and increasing crime that is closely linked to Medicare fraud, and additional safeguards are needed to protect the identities of beneficiaries.”

It’s unclear whether CMS will adopt Can-trell’s recommendation, but keep an eye on this issue to find out if and when a new look might be added to your patients’ Medicare cards.

Resource: To read Cantrell’s complete testimony, visit http://oig.hhs.gov/testimony/docs/2015/cantrell-032415.pdf.