Medical Fraudsters: Birthday Party People

I’ve talked about Protected Health Information (PHI) before. Sadly, the health information is not not protected that well, since fraudsters can acquire PHI very easily in some cases.

Sometimes REALLY easily.

For example, I could call a medical provider or go to a pharmacy and say that my name is Donald John Trump.

Do you know how many medical practitioners verify identities?

By asking for the person’s birthdate.

So there is the possibility that a medical practitioner, after I say that I am Donald John Trump, will simply ask for my birthday without a second thought.

I would reply “June 14, 1946.”

And some of these medical practitioners would immediately grant access!

Of course, the number of successful fraudulent accesses goes up substantially when the real person is NOT well known.

Yet birthdates are considered an acceptable form of security in some parts of the medical world.

Scary.