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Health Care Fraud Investigators use Social Media

Health Care Fraud Investigators use Social Media
Everybody knows how important social media sites have become; so much so that even insurance companies have started taking to social media sites to find out more about the people they insure. Medical liability, disability and workers’ compensation insurers have now started using Facebook and Twitter to check for potential frauds.

What’s more, health insurers have also begun to use online profiling for the underwriting process. This includes the Twitter and Facebook posts to check where current and prospective members go and what they do.

Yes, insurance companies have started using social media to outdo their competition when it comes to understanding the profile of the insured. This practice also includes underwriting, like using tweets or posts to find out whether a person’s hobbies are risky – like skydiving or running - and then using this to investigate disability claims.

So, patients are advised to stay away from social media sites if they are at home recovering from an illness or injury, in order to avoid being suspected of fraud. Even an innocent social media update might be misconstrued by the insurers.

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