The tips listed below should help you identify fraudulent communications from telemarketers or medical providers. Recognizing these communications as fraudulent could help prevent theft of your personal information and fraudulent billing to Federal health care programs that steals taxpayer money (e.g., billing for medically unnecessary durable medical equipment, genetic testing, or prescription medications).

• Do not provide your Federal health insurance information or other personal information to anyone over the phone, in an email, in a text message, or through social media.
• If someone other than your known medical providers ask for your Federal health insurance information or other personal information, do not provide it. Medical providers that you have received treatment from in the past or that you plan to receive care from in the near future likely already have your insurance information, and typically only ask for it at the time of your previously scheduled appointments.
• If you receive an unsolicited call from a telemarketer or medical provider to discuss information related to your health and you do not recognize the company's name, medical provider's name, or medical group, hang up the phone. Contact your primary care provider and ask for assistance to assess whether the call was legitimate.
  • Although each call may be different, typically fraudulent telemarketers will ask about your pain symptoms, your family's history of cancer, or your medications. Do not provide them any information. If you believe you need health care services, contact your primary care provider.
• Another way to handle unsolicited phone calls related to your health is to ask for the caller's name, phone number, and company's name and state that you will call them back. If it is a scammer contacting you, they likely will hang up when you ask for their information.
• Be suspicious of anyone who offers you "free" or "no cost" Medicare or other health care items or services, such as orthotic braces for pain, genetic testing, or prescription creams. Although the Federal health care programs are insurers that pay for items and services, they do not offer or advertise free items and services.
  • Medicare and the other Federal health care programs will never call you to offer free or no cost items and services.
• If you receive durable medical equipment (for example, back, knee, or arm braces), genetic or diagnostic testing kits, or prescription medications in the mail, do not accept the delivery unless you verify the order with your established medical provider. Refuse the delivery or return it to the sender. Keep a record of the sender's name and the date you returned the items and report that information to the OIG's fraud hotline.
• Become familiar with the Explanations of Benefits (EOB) and Medicare Summary Notices (MSN) you receive from Medicare and other Federal health care programs. When you notice discrepancies on your EOBs or MSNs, such as names of providers who never treated you or types of medical services that you never received, report it to the OIG's fraud hotline. Additional information from the Senior Medicare Patrol on how to read your EOBs or MSNs.
• Keep available a list of your medical providers' names, locations, and phone numbers so that you may easily recall who your legitimate medical providers are.
• To receive legitimate telehealth services from your provider, seek out family, friends, or caregivers you know and trust to assist with setting up the equipment and other technology needed.

• Educate yourself and talk to your Federal health care program patients about the scope of telehealth services available to them through your office and other legitimate providers.
• Before providing telehealth to patients, verify that the furnishing of the telehealth service via a telecommunications system instead of through an in-person service is clinically appropriate for the service and the patient.
  • This verification may include checking with the patient that they have the necessary equipment to participate in telehealth visits.
• Ensure that you are assessing the medical necessity and reasonableness of every item or service that you order or prescribe for a Federal health care program beneficiary.
• Make your patients aware of the types of communications they should expect to receive from your practice.
• Inform your Federal health care program patients that if they receive phone calls or other communications offering them durable medical equipment, genetic testing, diagnostic testing, diabetic supplies, prescription medications, or other health care items or services, they should consult you or another medical provider with whom they already have a provider-patient relationship to determine what, if any, items and services are needed to diagnose or treat their medical conditions.
  • You can expect that many of your Medicare patients are receiving unsolicited phone calls offering them "free" medical items and services.
• Be aware of phishing communications, including phone calls or faxes, stating that a clinical team determined that your patients should receive certain items or services and requesting that you approve orders for various items and services.
• Report telehealth fraud to OIG's fraud hotline if you encounter it or if your Federal health care program patients inform you about it.
• For information about how to avoid problematic arrangements when working with entities that provide or purport to provide telehealth, read the Special Fraud Alert: OIG Alerts Practitioners To Exercise Caution When Entering Into Arrangements With Purported Telemedicine Companies.