Medical Identity Theft

(HealthNewsDigest.com) - Imagine your personal medical information has been compromised by a security breach. Then imagine finding out that your personal information has been used by someone to obtain medical treatments and even prescription drugs. The gravity of this breach becomes even more serious when you receive an invoice for the treatment, or worse, find out medical information in your personal file has been changed.

Medical identity theft is the fastest-growing form of ID theft in America today and has become a growing global problem, with The World Privacy Forum estimating the number of victims to be between 250,000 to 500,000 people each year.

According to a Harris poll, the numbers are even higher than what the World Privacy Forum estimates, with approximately 4 percent of American adults, or nine million people, believing that they or a member of their family have had confidential medical information lost or stolen.

Medical identity theft can expose a person’s personal information, which can then be used by fraudsters to get medical treatments, benefits, prescription drugs and generally defraud the medical system. The victims of identity theft may ultimately receive incorrect medical treatment if their records have been altered. In a medical emergency, these fraudulent changes could lead to incorrect diagnoses and even death.

Cases of Medical Identity Theft are Growing

In the U.S., where the for-profit healthcare system creates incentives for hospitals and insurance companies to root out identity theft, an estimated 15 percent of claims are considered fraudulent.

From the standpoint of medical institutions, the consequences of medical identity theft may be significant. Healthcare providers may be assessed of heavy fines, legal expenses, bad publicity and reputation loss. According to Forrester Research Inc., in 2006 companies that experienced security breaches lost between one and $22 million, and with the Ponemon Institute's 2009 Cost of Data Breach Study placing the average cost of a breach across a range of organizations as high as $202 per record or $6.6million per breach, a patient data breach is potentially a debilitating event for any healthcare facility regardless of size.”
The Mechanics of the Breach

The moment a hospital admits a new patient, a medical record is initiated. Moving through different phases of the medical process, the record accumulates a multitude of details – from the patient’s lifestyle to symptoms, test results, diagnoses, treatment plans, procedures, insurance and personal information. These files, often kept in paper-based form, may continue beyond the original medical institution, making their way to other hospitals and clinics, family practice offices, insurance companies and health-related organizations.

In a hospital, many people may have access to patients’ confidential information. While most employees would never use this information for fraudulent purposes, some may, by exploiting it themselves or leaking it to thieves.

Security breaches may also result from the intentional or unintentional negligence of healthcare employees. While stories about medical files being dumped into recycling dumpsters or garbage containers – and even posted on the Internet – may sound anecdotal, such incidents do happen. These kinds of security breaches are becoming more common worldwide:

* Confidential documents left in unsecure recycling boxes or garbage bins.
* Lack of training for staff on what patient information should be protected and securely destroyed.
* Unsupervised medical files in file rooms or on desks.
* Lack of focus on document destruction due to budgetary concerns.
* Unsupervised or inadequate in-house document destruction facilities.

Furthermore, medical records also must be stored for a period of time, increasing the chances for a breach. Regular paper records are often kept for 10 years, and if it is a teaching hospital, or concerns a pediatric patient, hospitals may keep the records for 15 years or longer.

If you are scared enough to safeguard your identity follow my link.
http://www.ligal-ease.com 

Free to be the "Guy on the Street"

What does it mean to be "The guy on the Street" and who is qualified to have that distinction? I can tell you now that I do since I have lived the lifestyle and today I get to walk among the homeless every day. Wherever I go I am recognized on the street. It's kind of like the guy on "Cheers." We all want to go where everybody knows our name :-)

I know the most powerful human desire is to be appreciated and loved.I also know that the most stressful thing that can happen to a human being is to not have anywhere to go nowhere that they have to be. They have to be up in the morning wondering what am I going to have to do today to survive. I just need to find out how I'm going to eat today and then I need to make sure that nobody finds me when I get to my camp. I need to be well hidden because there is no telling what kind of dangers are lurking in the darkness.
They often wake up with fear as their only companion. Wake up in the morning and try to figure out how can I make this day better than yesterday or maybe it doesn't even matter because no one cares whether I live or die.
This is the world that I came from. This was the land of darkness where I spent endless days and nights. Thank you God because I no longer live there
. My choice, is to go back there day after day to be able to change the lives of those I encounter. My choice, is to make a difference in the lives of those that are less fortunate than I. In my travels during the day I encounter Angels. Those people that sacrifice to be able to serve and make a difference. My friend Dennis is one of those. I get to walk with Angels.
 My problem today is "how do I support those Angels?"
If you'd like to know check out my link.
http://ligal-ease.com

10 ways to protect your identity

http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/my-money/2010/09/22/10-ways-to-protect-yourself-from-id-theft

 I wanted to post this article in the hope that if some of my friends out there in cyberspace are still thinking "it won't happen to me" that you are very wrong. The simple fact of the matter is that it can very well happen to anyone of us. I am writing this in the hopes that the folks that are reading this will be warned and be a bit more cautious when it comes to protecting all those random documents that could so easily lead to their identity being compromised.
As Americans we seem to have this idea that the bad stuff that we read about in the news simply happens to other people and not to us. I am here to tell you that it would be very easy for our identity to be compromised in a number of different ways.
If for instance someone uses our Social Security number to have a hospital procedure and when we go into the hospital they have the wrong information on us. This could be potentially lethal to our very lives. But once again it can't happen to us or can it? We all hope that it won't ever happen to us but statistics show that someone's identity is compromised in this country once every 3 seconds.
I have been working with the company is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange for the last 32 years. I believe this is reputable company otherwise I would not be working with them. Perhaps, if you put your skepticism aside you can check this company out with an open mind.you have nothing to lose but a few moments of your precious time.

http://ligal-ease.com

Do you know how your identity is stolen ???

Dumpster Diving

Thieves sort through your garbage looking for personal information and documents, such as credit card applications. In many cases, mail is simply taken from an unlocked mailbox.

Phising

Someone impersonates a company or important authority and emails you with an official looking request for important personal information, such as verifying your bank account number, Social Security number or passwords.

Hacking

Tech savvy thieves break into databases, computers and Web sites to retrieve your stored personal information. This can include everything from your name, address and birthday to highly sensitive data like Social Security numbers and account numbers.

Spyware

This ill-intentioned software installs itself onto computers and captures information without your knowledge, such as account numbers and passwords.

Shoulder Surfing

Criminals look over your shoulder and watch you do things like fill out forms or enter ATM pins.

Vishing

Just like phishing, but performed over a phone.

Credit Card Skimming

When criminals capture your credit card number. This crime can happen anywhere, from restaurants to tampered ATMs. Your information can then be sold on the black market and used to create new credit cards so others can withdraw cash and make purchases using your account.

This is by far not a complete list but I hope to make people aware of the fact that it can happen to you. We love to thing that we will be one of the "Lucky One who get away unscathed. Denial is a wonderful thing but in this case it can be deadly.just because we make like an ostrich and bury our heads in the sand does not mean that the tiger will come and eat are butt. He love to think that we could possibly be so cursed that someone would actually steal our identity, be it our medical identity or our good name. We couldn't possibly wind up in jail for something that someone else has done in our name. I don't mean to be the bearer of gloom and doom with the reality of the situation is that it can't happen to us and it happens to good people every day. In this country someone's identity is stolen at least 3 seconds. You may consider this a note of caution.
If you are interested in doing something to protect yourself then follow the link at the bottom of this page.


http://ligal-ease.com

Frivolous Lawsuits

Serial litigant with 3800 lawsuits sued for 'frivolous litigation'

when I see headlines like this I get this feeling that we are headed down a really bad road. When I say we I mean this country as a whole. Our medical healthcare costs have gone through the roof because doctors are being sued over frivolous  bunk. Add to that, that we are three times more likely to be soon or something really stupid and we are to wind up in the hospital. We have health insurance but what do we do when we need to talk to an attorney. If you are like most of us would not know how to proceed once you get the notification in the mail that you are being sued The problem is that our laws were written by attorneys and they speak a language that is not English. It's called legalese and most people in everyday life to not understand this foreign language.
so, we get a notice in the mail says we're being audited by the IRS. We made a mistake on our taxes last year. Now what? Do we have an attorney on retainer? How much will that cost? Do we have any idea what the next indicated step is going to be in order to safeguard our good name and our rights? These may be some thorny questions but I may suggest that there is a solution. I will be posting more facts on this distressing issue in the future but if you are willing to pour a solution I suggest you follow my link.

www.ligal-ease.com

href="http://www.betternetworker.com/company/prepaid-legal-services-inc?uid=8200" target="_blank"><img src="http://static.betternetworker.com/seal.php?cid=83472&uid=8200&img_id=7" alt="Jeffrey Hernandez is a Member of Prepaid Legal Services, Inc. on BetterNetworker.com Company Profiles">.

Thing you should never reveal on Facebook

http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/110663/6-things-you-should-never-reveal-on-facebook

I was cruising  into my Facebook page as I do on a regular basis and there I find that someone has posted their birthday. I know that this is not the only person on Facebook that does this. But it is not a good idea in fact it's a very bad idea. Identity thieves are cruising the social media websites all day and all night. They are putting up the bogus websites to impersonate banks and Amazon and eBay. All the silly stuff just to get someone's birthday and may be similar personal information but they don't need much. Next we know is that our bank account has been looted or a credit card has been run up in our name. Every 3 seconds someone's identity is stolen. If you know someone has had their identity taken no nightmare that they have been placed into. All of a sudden the living hell and it's not just the money.it's the time that it takes to restore person's good name and identity. A friend had it happen inadvertently by someone that she trusted. I watched what happened to this person's state of mind as she struggled to get things right in her life.
Wouldn't wish that kind of torment on anyone.
If you are concerned with this fear is one of the may want to look into a solution by following the link I posted on the bottom of this post.

Facts about ID Theft

College-age kids susceptible to ID theft | ajc.com
When Atlanta native Amanda Haimes was away at college in Massachusetts, she racked up $1000 in debit card charges at gas stations in Texas.
www.ajc.com/news/college-age-kids-susceptible-607016.html

We'll tell ourselves "it won't happen to me." The grim reality is that it could happen to me. The reality is that every three seconds someone's identity in this country is stolen. There are myriad of ways plays that thieves can get into our identity. More on that in a latter post. I simply want to let all my folks know that this is a very real threat and that hiding our heads in the sand is not going to make go away. The experts agree that there is no way to prevent identity theft. The problem now arises on how to safeguard our identities and how to repair them should they be stolen. There are lots of ways that we can insure that our identities are secure.

PLEASE, make sure you have a shredder in your home or in your office. You do not want to have your medical identity stolen. I will shortly be presenting you 10 things that anyone can find out about you. If someone is bound and determined to get ill gotten gains from stealing someone's identity they're going to do it. It's antisocial, it's illegal and it's downright despicable.

When someone becomes a victim they are literally placed a living hell because most people have no idea what to do about it when it happens

.if you're interested in finding solution to this growing problem follow the length and posting here.

http//ligal-ease.com

frivolous lawsuits

Citing "Mental Anguish," Christine O'Donnell Sought $6.9 Million in Gender Discrimination Lawsuit Against Conservative Group | The Weekly Standard

weeklystandard.com/blogs/citing-mental-anguish-ch...t-69-million-gender-discrimination-lawsuit-again – view page – cached

Citing "Mental Anguish," Christine O'Donnell Sought $6.9 Million in Gender Discrimination Lawsuit Against Conservative Group

OMG will the madness never end? How far does her system have to go in order for an everyday citizen to feel safe from the insanity of someone tripping over their sidewalk and then taking them into Small Claims Court to sue them for an exorbitant amount of money?

It is going to my attention that we are three times more likely to be sued and we are to be hospitalized. We pay exorbitant prices for medical insurance because in part of these frivolous suits.

Denial is a wonderful thing and we all want to believe that "it will happen to me."

well, I'm here to let you know that it could happen you. The same thing, hold true for identity theft. Every three seconds someone in this United States gets his identity stolen in one form or another. What can we do you ask? Follow the Link and may have the solution for you.

http://ligal-ease.com

9-11 We will never Forget

today was a day of sadness and joy mixed together. we started out to Cook's Corner with more motorcycles and I have ever seen. I was close to the front of the pack but I could not see the lead motorcycles. The fire trucks were in attendance and firefighters were at attention. it was truly awe-inspiring. The ride was escorted and we had traffic breaks for most of the way. We rode through the canyon to El Toro and then down to Laguna Beach where we were again welcomed by LB Police and Firefighters. It was rather thrilling to see the firemen sounding their sirens this we rode this long line of bikes through their lovely city.

I was truly inspired as we ran up the Coast Hwy into Newport Beach where the firetruck on the overpass had the Firefighters standing on top of it and saluting us as we rode by. The same thing happened in Huntington and I couldn't guess at the number of people on the sidewalks waving and cheering us on. Most of those folks were taking pictures or video.

I can't remember a run that was more emotionally charged or well received. I was truly humbled and honored to be a part of it and a citizen of this Great Nation