The Meaningful Use advisers at the North Texas Regional Extension Center have a lot of experience working with physicians and Patrick Casey makes some good points about the need to protect patient health information. Protected Health Information (PHI) is a hot commodity on the black market and well worth your time to learn how to protect. It’s a quick read that healthcare providers (doctors, office managers and all staff) need to read and understand.
Protecting Patient Health Information by Patrick Casey of NTREC
The general public sometimes seems puzzled why medical information is so sensitive and valuable to criminals. “Who cares about my hernia?”
Most of us probably don’t share the same attitude towards our privacy, but there is more to this than saying, “That’s none of your business!” Medical information includes important identification, financial and medical information which, in combination, offers a powerful formula for bad guys to steal your identity, open accounts and file false medical claims. Knowing health conditions, diagnoses and treatments, tricksters have precisely what they need to file convincing, yet totally false claims for expensive medical services with their fake clinic as the beneficiary.