June 28, 2024
Medical Record Phishing Scams
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) sent an alert regarding phishing scams for medical records. This can include criminals faxing your office fraudulent medical records requests to get you to send patient records in response.
To Detect a Potential Scam Request, CMS state to look for:
- Instructions which direct you to send records to an unfamiliar fax number or address
- Referencing Medicare.gov or @Medicare (.gov)
- Indicating they need records to “update insurance accordingly”
- Poor grammar, misspellings, or strange wording
- Incorrect phone numbers
- Skewed or outdated logos
- Graphics that are cut and pasted
If you think you got a fraudulent or questionable request
- Work with your Medical Review Contractor to confirm if it’s real
- Submit medical documentation through the Electronic Submission of Medical Documentation (esMD), or
- CMS medical review contractor secure internet portals, when available