Fraud Management & Cybercrime , ID Fraud , Video

Fighting Medical ID Theft

MIFA's Patterson on Latest Research, Security Trends
Fighting Medical ID Theft

Since 2010, incidents of medical ID theft have nearly doubled, according to recent research from the Medical Identity Fraud Alliance.

See Also: Kaspersky Lab's New Focus on Fraud Prevention

In addition, "While the average cost per victim went down, the number of victims having to encounter out-of-pocket costs doubled," says Patterson, MIFA's senior vice president and program director.

The latest research was conducted before the recent high-profile breaches at Anthem and Premera Blue Cross, so it's too early to determine impacts from those incidents.

But Patterson says, despite a rise in breaches, the most common source of medical ID theft remains family and friends. These fraud incidents, perpetrated by people whom the victims know, constitute about half of all recorded medical ID fraud cases, she says.

Patterson discussed the topic in a session titled "Medical Identity Theft: Understanding the Scope, Consequences and Prevention" at Information Security Media Group's recent Healthcare Information Security Summit in Boston.

In a video interview at the event, Patterson discusses:

  • The latest medical ID theft trends;
  • Results of MIFA's Fifth Annual Study on Medical Identity Theft;
  • How healthcare organizations must respond.

At MIFA, Patterson oversees member programming, including committees, working groups, deliverables, member engagement and meetings, and manages member recruitment, retention and marketing. Prior to MIFA, she was vice president of member relations and communications at BITS/Financial Services Roundtable. Previously, she worked in communications for Ernst & Young Technologies, PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Department of Defense.


About the Author

Tom Field

Tom Field

Senior Vice President, Editorial, ISMG

Field is responsible for all of ISMG's 28 global media properties and its team of journalists. He also helped to develop and lead ISMG's award-winning summit series that has brought together security practitioners and industry influencers from around the world, as well as ISMG's series of exclusive executive roundtables.




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