Identity theft is everywhere these days, but there are still ways to protect yourself and your business. The best way is to use a professional document shredding service to destroy all your paper records when it is time to dispose of them.
Because of news reports and public announcements, we’ve all been made aware of identity theft and the problems it can cause to your finances and credit if you become a victim. Government agencies and financial institutions like banks and credit card companies do their best to continually make us aware of the need to protect your privacy. They make helpful suggestions to reduce your exposure by changing passwords, locking your mailbox, bringing your mail to the post office, enrolling in an identity theft protection program, and regularly using a professional document shredding service. What does not get a lot of press is medical identity theft. What is medical identity theft and how can you protect yourself your patients, clients, and employees from it?
What is Medical Identity Theft?
Medical identity theft is the illegal access and use of a patient’s personally identifiable information (PII) or protected health information (PHI) to obtain medical treatment, services, or goods.
Medical identity theft is growing and has become an easy way to steal someone’s identity and use it for medical treatments and prescription drugs. With the continuing abuse and profitability of selling prescription drugs, these thieves have found ways to use that information for bogus medical claims and phony prescriptions to get what they want. Thieves can use your social security number, address phone number, and even insurance to gain access to all kinds of medical treatment if they get their hands on your account.
Protecting yourself from this type of identity theft takes some work, but it’s not that hard if you take a logical and practical approach. Don’t make it easy for thieves to get their hands on your medical data. Be sure to shred all documents with your personal information when it’s time to dispose of them. Review and keep close watch over your insurance statements and medical bills. If anything looks wrong or unfamiliar, you should contact your doctor, hospital, and insurance company right away.
To protect yourself, it’s always best practice to shred all paper documents. This practice is important because more than half of these papers contain some type of private information about you or a business. Even junk mail like those endless credit card offers can pose a risk if it includes your name, address, phone number, or any other private information. Business records that relate to your company’s health coverage are a target. Contacting a professional shredding service to discuss your shredding options will definitely help. A document destruction company will shred your documents following the strictest and most secure procedures. Their job is to keep your information protected at all times from any kind of identity theft or data breach.
FileShred is a locally owned onsite document shredding and hard drive destruction service in Connecticut that will help you securely destroy your confidential papers. Give us a call or visit our website at https://www.fileshred.net/.
