Watch Out for Fax Scams Requesting Patient Information

Recently, we have received reports of faxes asking physicians to confirm information about patients or to confirm that someone is a patient of Carilion Clinic. We believe these faxes could be tied to Medicare billing scams.
 
The faxes claim to be from national pharmacy chains and state they are HIPAA compliant physician authorizations. Patients sign HIPAA authorizations, not physicians. No authorization is required when making disclosures for purposes of treatment, payment and healthcare operations.
 
The faxes ask the recipient to fax back a form or other patient information. In some cases, the patient listed on the fax may be an actual patient of ours.
 
If you receive one of these faxes, do not send any patient information to the number on the fax.

If you receive a fax that seems suspicious, let our Information Security team know about it by emailing Information_Risk_Management@carilionclinic.org.