I never heard of a medical care spam call

Ed1937

Well, it happened. But I didn't know it until today. As some of you know, I have been fighting hypo glycemia. About a week ago I received a call from "Ultrasound of pancreas", from Chattanooga, TN. They made me believe they got my name and number from my doctor. They wanted me to make an appointment for an ultrasound. I refused, saying I had not really discussed this with much my doctor. I had an appointment with the doc today. I asked him about it. He had no idea what I was talking about. He said they found out I was taking medication that was used for my condition. And they're trying to make it financially beneficial for them. I wouldn't recommend that place. Does everybody know everything about you?

M1

Wow Ed, that's a new one. It is downright unnerving what information is out there. Wish there was a way to report them. Hope things are stable for you.

Crushed

I have gotten one for DW.  Some Comprehensive cancer screening "center" called and want to do screening of DW for all types of cancer.  I said DW was sick and cold not talk on the phone.
They claimed their records showed she had not been screened and it was time to schedule 6  screening tests all covered by medicare

The cancer center was obviously a Call center.  they had DW's name  address and age.
However they clearly did not know that DW had been a physician, and we had both worked in screening.  Then they started pfishing  for what medicare supplemental plan she was on.

Then the caller asked me if I was retired.  I said no , I'm a professor and I teach medicare fraud  
 Fast hang up 

Ed1937

M1 wrote:

Wow Ed, that's a new one. It is downright unnerving what information is out there. Wish there was a way to report them. Hope things are stable for you.

Thank you. I'm doing OK, and doc is not thinking about surgery at this time. My glucose still falls quite a bit within 1 or 2 hours after breakfast. But when I get it back in balance, the rest of the day is good. Doc is trying to tweak my medicine, and offered a new medication to try.

 

Jo C.

Oh yes; there is always skullduggery afoot when there is money to be made - medical marketing is a big business.  Here is a link to an article re marketing firms using our medical information and it is a big, big lucrative  business:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-data-brokers-make-money-off-your-medical-records/

Even when we do searches on our computers; we get tracked as we hit different sites to do our reading;  I can only imagine what my profile looks like with all the searches I do regarding a huge number of various medical conditions and issues.

Our pharmacies can refer us to various entities that may have services our prescriptions may point to. I have in fact long ago received a notice from a pharmacy regarding just such dynamics.   I did try to close that down but had no luck.

HIPPA makes things clear to a point; but there are ways around it and it is pretty sly and for me, rather mind boggling how some of it is done.   Here is HIPPA and what is and is not considered marketing; but there are loopholes:

https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/privacy/guidance/marketing/index.html

It annoys me no end to know that my protected information is "out there" and even some of my own providers are selling it by skating under the thin loophole line.

Guess it is time for me to check our pharmacy and healthcare providers to see what is going on; this will also include the P.T. folks and other ancillary providers, etc.   

J.

Rescue mom

Jo said it, and I saw it in my work.  These kinds of medical-care sales calls are common in my area, which has a large senior/retiree population.

 Many people are flabbergasted to learn how much “personal” information on them is free and legal on public records. Combine that with info bought from other businesses/groups, and it’s very easy to target calls. “Legal” doesn’t matter much; so few are ever caught, they’re willing to take the risk, when/if they go beyond public data. Seniors are targeted because they tend to be trusting, and think everybody cares about “legal.” (Not even counting the legal loopholes). 

By the time we’re seniors, most of us indeed have health issues. So the fraudsters are off to the races. I include real businesses in this because they are trying to sell you something with little regard as to whether that is beat or right for you. It’s just a sale for them. That may be too harsh, but no sympathy from me.

The callers build on existing information, making assumptions that apply to most call recipients. If they know your age and address (public record) and that you have or do, ordered or researched, A,B and C, for example, they assume you want D. It works, or close enough, most of the time.

Some are very skilled at asking questions or making leading comments, then use your response to further “tailor” their pitch. I heard so many cases where a recipient said “but how could they know (whatever) unless they were...(whoever).” In fact, the recipient *told* the caller that themselves, in response to what they thought was a statement or question on other matters. 

But SO MUCH info is available, either through public records or through the groups that collect data and sell it.

I think if more people realized how extensive this data collection is, they’d be more upset. But maybe not...

Anyway, there IS big money to be made, so they’re doing it. We as caregivers are already busy and tired. It’s something else to watch out for. And if any of our impaired LOs get these calls, it can be even worse. I saw people lose hundreds of thousands. Almost none is ever recovered.