As part of an effort to cut down on medical identity fraud, a number of physician offices across the country have taken new steps to make sure the patients they treat are who they say they are. To address the practice of insurance-card sharing in particular, many offices have begun snapping patients' photos at check-in, copying their drivers' licenses along with their insurance cards or requiring them to present a photo ID.
Although Congress recently clarified that physicians are not considered creditors under the Federal Trade Commission's Red Flags Rule that requires business to take extra precautions to protect their customers against identity theft, insurers such as Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama support measures to verify patients' identities. "We do believe this practice can help with fraud prevention and detection. Most provider offices do this through checking and copying driver's licenses, but some may elect to place photos on the charts," Koko Mackin, the plan's vice president and corporate secretary, told the Birmingham News.
However, Pam Dixon, founder of the World Privacy Forum, advised doctors that simply checking identification--rather than copying it--is an adequate way to prevent health insurance card fraud without inadvertently creating more opportunities for theft.
As for practices that have begun asking (but not requiring) patients to say 'cheese' at the front desk, most report little pushback from patients. In addition to cutting down on fraud, some doctors report other benefits to having a patient's photo as part of the medical file. "[It] helps prevent mistaken identity, as we may have several patients with the same name," Dr. Jeffrey J. Clifton, of the Seale Harris Clinic on the St. Vincent's Hospital campus, told the newspaper in an email. "It also helps us to recall the patient's history and details easier and better. A picture can jog our memory quicker and more completely."
To learn more:
- see the piece from WDBJ7.com
- read this article from the Birmingham News