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Hospital bracelets new means of identity theft

Healthcare Security Weekly, March 14, 2005

Thieves are finding news ways to get private information on hospital patients through identification bracelets and medical charts, Baltimore's television station WBAL reported last week.

The number of reported identity theft cases grew from 40,000 to 300,000 in the past three years, the Federal Trade Commission reported.

Hospitals are often involved in identity theft cases since it's relatively easy to get a patient's social security number from identification bracelets and medical charts. Some hospitals are already taking steps to protect themselves.

"We created an audit trail in the computer system so we can always see who has accessed patient-identified information," Steven Singer, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, told WBAL.

While new government guidelines call for increased security, many hospitals still use social security numbers for patient identification. Patients should conceal their identification bracelets while in the hospital and check their credit reports when they get home, WBAL reported.

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