• Blog
  • Services
    • PHIshMD Ongoing Training
    • HIPAA Compliance
    • Discover Vulnerabilities to Patient PHI
  • Store
    • HIPAA Secure Now Service Store
  • Contact Us
    • Sales Inquiry
    • Customer Support
  • Resources
    • Free Healthcare Security Check Up Quiz
    • HIPAA Compliance Requirements | A Guide
    • Webinars & Downloadable Content
    • Use our free Breach Cost Calculator
    • HIPAA Secured Seal
    • In-Email Training & Analysis | Catch Phish

Call us at: 877-275-4545

Client or Partner? Login here
HIPAA Secure Now!HIPAA Secure Now!
  • Blog
  • Services
    • PHIshMD Ongoing Training
    • HIPAA Compliance
    • Discover Vulnerabilities to Patient PHI
  • Store
    • HIPAA Secure Now Service Store
  • Contact Us
    • Sales Inquiry
    • Customer Support
  • Resources
    • Free Healthcare Security Check Up Quiz
    • HIPAA Compliance Requirements | A Guide
    • Webinars & Downloadable Content
    • Use our free Breach Cost Calculator
    • HIPAA Secured Seal
    • In-Email Training & Analysis | Catch Phish

Additional insight into: Why Gang Members Want Your Identity

April 9, 2013 Posted by Art Gross HIPAA, Security Training No Comments

In a very interesting article titled Why Gang Members Want Your Identity Fox Business News reporter Kate Rogers examines a disturbing trend of stealing electronic patient records and using them to commit crimes.

Gang members are stealing patient records and using them to file false tax returns.

Detective Craig Catlin of the North Miami Beach Police Department Gang Unit goes so far as to call it an “epidemic” among the city’s street gangs. “Every gang member is doing this,” Catlin says. “It’s a business to them—they’re doing burglaries and then having other members commit the fraud.”

The practice is very lucrative

Why sling dope on the corner of an apartment building, when you can rent a room at a hotel nearby and have a tax return party? You can make up to $40,000 or $50,000 in one night,” he says.

Another disturbing aspect of this crime is that gang members are getting their girlfriends to get jobs at healthcare organizations with the sole purpose of stealing electronic patient information.

“If you get a job as an administrator or data person, you have access to all of this information. And with medical it’s a double hit—it’s not only about the money, but also the health insurance. That is a valuable commodity in the marketplace—it’s big dollars.”

Levin says the girlfriends show up to work, steal a sizable amount of data and then never return. The larger the medical practice, the longer it will take for the company to realize.

“It’s not so much people hacking into files anymore–it’s an inside job,” he says. “Also, a lot of these medical facilities have their technology shipped offshore or stored with a third-party vendor. This means you have easier access to medical files in an emergency, but the downside is that more people have access to your files, and they may not have your best intentions at heart.”

Catlin adds that he has seen cases of this sort ranging from $30,000 to $30 million, depending on the depth of the fraud. Florida in particular had been a hotbed for this type of crime, but in recent years the District Attorney’s office has moved more quickly to prosecute tax fraud and more cases have reached the federal level.

What can healthcare organizations do?

I spoke with Kate Rogers before her on air interview with Fox Business News (see clip below). We discussed what individuals and healthcare organizations can do to prevent this type of crime. I told her that except for some of the advice that she provided in her article there is not a lot that patients can do to protect themselves. If they want treatment they need to provide personal information such as name, address, insurance information, etc. The real burden is on the healthcare organizations to ensure that this information is properly protected.

Here are 6 steps that organizations can do to protect electronic patient information:

    1. Screen job applicants – all job applicants should be properly screened prior to hiring and providing access to patient information. Look for criminal records, frequent job switches or anything else that might be a warning sign.

 

    1. Limit access to patient information – employees should only have the minimum access needed to perform their job. A lot of healthcare organizations give everyone full access to electronic health records. By limiting what an employee can get to, limits their ability to potentially access and use the information for criminal activity.

 

    1. Audit access to patient information – all access to patient information should be recorded. Every employee should use their own user id and password. All access to patient information should be recorded including who accessed, when they accessed and what records they accessed.

 

    1. Review audit logs – auditing of access is needed but organizations have to ensure they are looking at the audit logs. Criminal activity can be happening right under your nose. Reviewing the audit logs may uncover strange or unexpected activity. Examples include: is one employee accessing significantly more patient records than other employees? If employees average accessing 10 patient records per day and one employee is accessing 50 that might be a sign of criminal activity. If records are being accessed after business hours that might be another sign of illegal activity. The key is to review the audit logs and look for unexpected access.

 

    1. Security training – all employees should receive security training on how to protect patient information. In that training employees should be made aware that all activity to patient information is being logged and reviewed. Knowing that their actions are being watched might prevent employees from trying to use patient information illegally.

 

    1. Limit the use of USB drives – in the past you would need a truck to steal 10,000 patient charts. Now you can easily copy them on a small thumb / USB drive and put them in your pocket. Organizations should look carefully at preventing the use of USB drives to prevent illegal activity.

Below is Kate Rogers’ on air interview for Fox Business News.

Kate Rogers Fox Business News

Tags: BreachPhishingSecurity Training
No Comments
Share
0

You also might be interested in

Introducing HIPAA Secure Now!

Feb 13, 2011

We are proud to announce the launch of the HIPAA[...]

Employee training might produce the best security ROI

Employee training might produce the best security ROI

Feb 21, 2011

There are countless security products on the market today. You[...]

Using patient record security as a competitive advantage

Using patient record security as a competitive advantage

Mar 7, 2011

The following blog was written a year ago but the[...]

Leave a Reply Cancel Reply

Recent Posts

  • Data Privacy Week
  • HIPAA: Text Messaging and Chat Services
  • Cybersecurity is Vital for Healthcare Organizations
  • Social Security Scam
  • Healthcare Industry End of Year Checklist

Recent Comments

  • Milan on PHI or PII – What’s the Difference?
  • Automatic Backlinks on Free HIPAA Security Training!
  • Lisa Porter on Free HIPAA Security Training!
  • Roseanne ruiz on Health Apps & HIPAA
  • Roseanne ruiz on PHI or PII – What’s the Difference?

Archives

  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011

Categories

  • Backup & Disaster Recovery
  • Business Associates
  • Client News
  • Download
  • Healthcare Industry
  • HIPAA
  • HIPAA Audits
  • HIPAA Violations
  • HSN News
  • Legal
  • MACRA
  • Policies and Procedures
  • Press Release
  • Remote Workforce
  • Risk Assessment
  • Scams
  • Security
  • Security Reminders
  • Security Training
  • Telehealth
  • Uncategorized
  • Webinar
  • Website

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Contact Us

  • HIPAA Secure Now
  • 55 Madison Ave, Suite 400 Morristown, NJ 07960
  • (877) 275 - 4545
  • info@hipaasecurenow.com

Find us on Social Media

Recent Posts

  • Data Privacy Week January 24, 2023
  • HIPAA: Text Messaging and Chat Services January 17, 2023
  • Cybersecurity is Vital for Healthcare Organizations January 10, 2023
  • Social Security Scam January 3, 2023
  • Healthcare Industry End of Year Checklist December 27, 2022

Subscribe to our Newsletter

  • Hidden

© 2023 · HIPAA Secure Now!

Prev Next