October 18, 2005 Robert S. Brown UW Medical Center Identity Theft So, what you gonna do about it?

The Law RCW : No person may knowingly obtain, possess, use, or transfer a means of identification or financial information of another person, living or dead, with the intent to commit, or to aid or abet, any crime.

The Costs $53 Billion per year nationwide Loss of good will = loss of business?

The Methods Phishing has replaced dumpster diving Other methods include: – Shoulder Surfing – Skimming (data device on an ATM) – Social Engineering (think Mission: Impossible) – Mail Theft (old fashioned but it works) – Retail Theft (stealing, hacking, conning, bribing) – Plus a zillion other ways your data gets stolen

Two likely scenarios at UWMC 1. Care Recipient is an identity thief 2. Inside job (or hacker)

Care Recipient is an identity thief Duty to notify the victim – Do not share PHI unless permitted by law RCW HIPAA – Consider notifying law enforcement – Share handout explaining what you will do, what they can do (e.g. FTC’s excellent white paper) –

Care Recipient is an identity thief Need to mitigate the damage – Amend medical records – Notify internal departments – Promptly investigate & notify the victim of your findings and actions taken to fix

Employee is the Identity Thief Investigation policy? – Who is on point? – Who should you alert? – How will you summarize at conclusion? Sanction policy? – Does it explicitly address ID theft? – Will the penalties meet the Seattle Times test?

Summary Review the laws: – RCW 9.35 – HIPAA – RCW

Summary Be proactive in protecting data Be diligent about investigating Create policies now

UW Medical Center Rob Brown, Assistant Director of Compliance Ellen Rubin, RN, Privacy Officer