personal information no longer necessarily personal anymore
May 5, 2017 7:50 AM Subscribe
My doctor's office inadvertently gave some of my personal information to a stranger - how worried should I be?
Through some screw up of the receptionist, a woman who came into the doctor's office after me got a printout of some of my personal information - my name, date of birth, vital statistics, the medications I take (nothing too scandalous) and a list of recent appointments I'd made.
I was told she did *not* receive my social security number, address or health insurance information.
The doctor's office told the woman to destroy the printout she'd received - is there anything I need to worry about? Can the woman do anything nefarious with the information she has?
Through some screw up of the receptionist, a woman who came into the doctor's office after me got a printout of some of my personal information - my name, date of birth, vital statistics, the medications I take (nothing too scandalous) and a list of recent appointments I'd made.
I was told she did *not* receive my social security number, address or health insurance information.
The doctor's office told the woman to destroy the printout she'd received - is there anything I need to worry about? Can the woman do anything nefarious with the information she has?
Most people wouldn't even know where to begin with committing identity fraud even if they wanted to. If what you were told is correct, there's very little anyone could do with that type of information. They might be able to use it to call the doctor's office and try to use the information they have to convince the staff they're you, but that's a pretty long shot. I'd ask them to add a note to your account to be extra careful about giving out information over the phone. They could, theoretically, set up an office visit and pretend to be you, but that seems pretty unlikely. Are the staff and practitioners familiar enough with you that they'd figure it out if an impostor showed up?
Consider this - stolen health care information including things like the policy number and billing number only sell for about $10 on the black market. That's because it's hard to pull off a great scam with scant information.
posted by Candleman at 9:01 AM on May 5, 2017 [1 favorite]
Consider this - stolen health care information including things like the policy number and billing number only sell for about $10 on the black market. That's because it's hard to pull off a great scam with scant information.
posted by Candleman at 9:01 AM on May 5, 2017 [1 favorite]
It would be one thing if this woman was impersonating you to get your information, but she's just another patient and it was an honest mistake. My guess is the worst thing she *might* do is google you if she's a nosy/curious type. Of course for peace of mind there's no harm in taking some precautions.
posted by acidic at 9:20 AM on May 5, 2017
posted by acidic at 9:20 AM on May 5, 2017
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by juniperesque at 8:29 AM on May 5, 2017 [6 favorites]