New tips to defend against medical identity theft

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius and Assistant Attorney General Tony West will highlight the Obama Administration’s work to fight Medicare Fraud and release new tips and information to help seniors and Medicare beneficiaries deter, detect and defend against Medical identity theft.

Medical identity theft occurs when someone steals a patient’s personal information, such as his or her name and Medicare number, and uses the information to obtain medical care, to buy drugs or supplies, or to fraudulently bill Medicare using that patient’s stolen identity.