MIFA

The MIFA Institute

The MIFA Institute is the consumer education arm of the Medical Identity Fraud Alliance (MIFA). The Institute aims to provide programs that support consumer education and awareness about medical identity theft and the resulting fraud.

We recognize that medical identity theft and fraud are unique.
Sitting at the intersection of traditional identity theft and our sensitive protection health information (PHI) is a treasure trove for the bad guys. Medical identity fraud not only involves all the headaches that accompany traditional ID theft, but also the severe dangers of having your medical information corrupted with that of an identity thief. This can have extremely negative health outcomes if you are misdiagnosed, receive incorrect healthcare or incorrect medication due to confusion about your true health status.

Concurrent with the work done through MIFA and its Members and Partners to enable the healthcare industry to reduce the incidence of medical identity theft and fraud, the MIFA Institute strives to empower consumers to be their own best advoocate for their health/medical privacy and identity.

The Institute does not expend resources to fight all identity fraud, nor all healthcare fraud. We concentrate our expertise and resources solely on the unique intersection between healthcare and our identities, particularly our electronic identities in an ever-increasing cyber-connected environment.

Mission

MIFA Institute’s mission is to further public interest by serving as a national resource on consumer-related issues associated with medical identity fraud.

Getting It Done – Working for Consumers

We accomplish our goals through industry-wide collaboration with stakeholders in the healthcare industry, such as healthcare providers, health insurance plans and the business associates who provide valuable services to the sector. Many of our collaborators are MIFA Members and Partners who are passionate about helping their patients, health plan members and clients understand the dangers of medical identity fraud and how to protect themselves. These companies are earnest in their endeavors to protect patient privacy and secure our sensitive health information against fraudsters.

We also work with consumer advocates, law enforcement, government and legislative bodies to ensure the best consumer protections are being brought to the healthcare industry.

Please visit our Consumer Resources information to learn ways to protect yourself or for help if you believe you’ve been a victim of medical identity fraud.