Urology Coding Alert

Answer: Identity theft is the theft of personal, private, financial information for some type of individual gain, says Kelly A Shew, CPC, CPCO, CDEO, CPB, CPMA, CPPM, CRC, CEMC. Medical identity theft occurs when a person uses someone else’s information, including their insurance policy, to obtain services for themselves. Fraudulent claims are for services that were not actually rendered or weren’t medically necessary — it’s either billing services to patients who don’t need them or billing for services that weren’t provided, Shew says.

Some situations in which people have been victims of medical identity theft include incidents where their information is used to procure prescriptions for opiates or medical supplies. In these situations, if a payer covers the services and then finds out they were fraudulent, the insurance company tends to recoup their costs, leaving the clinician and health system with the costs, Shew says.

These situations tend to be expensive for everyone involved, so patients and practices should do what they can to secure their protected health information (PHI).