Would you give your social security number to an EMT?

[DFIB]

Hospitals require patients to fill in their SS# (if they have one) upon admission. Should EMS require it as well?

http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/blog/small_business/2011/08/would-you-give-your-ssn-to-an-emt.html

[paramedicmike]

Every EMS agency for whom I've ever worked has required it as part of the billing process. In all my years of doing this I don't recall ever encountering a situation where a person has reacted as did the author of the linked piece.

[ERDoc]

I don't know if I would be comfortable giving it with so many witnesses. In the hospital it is done in a more private environment (in theory). I do think the author is a little dramatic, but what do you expect from a reporter. He had a 1" gash in his skull? No, he probably had a small cut in his scalp.

[Lone Star]

I can understand their reluctance to volunteer such information in front of a bunch of witnesses, but in this scenario, all involved appeared to be either healthcare providers or school administrators. Not the usual suspects that one would encounter in an identity theft incident.

Part of the reason we get the social security numbers in EMS is so that when it comes time to pay the bills, we know the 'right person' to bill for services rendered.

In the hospital, it's part of patient identification; this ensures that getting the right chart for the right face......

Its amazing how fast the reporter was to villify an entire profession, by insinuating that we're just predators looking to screw our helpless patients.....

[DFIB]

The reporter does sound like a jerk. I wonder if the medic could have let the guy enter his own number or write it down. I wonder what he will do when hi has a real emergency?

[tcripp]

Hospitals require patients to fill in their SS# (if they have one) upon admission. Should EMS require it as well?

Interestingly enough, we ask for a SSN. However, it is usually in the privacy of our ambulance or even at the hospital. I've only had one or two reluctantly give it, but they did. The flip side? Every patient then gets a HIPAA notice letting them know that all the personal information they have shared will be kept confidential.

What does it gain for me? Access to previous information already entered in to my computer such as medical history, medications and allergies. This included a semi-conscious patient (ROSC) and we needed to know about her hx/meds/allergies. Found her purse, found a SSN card, and got the information we needed. Yea!

But, if the person has a difficult time telling me and would be more comfortable in typing it in to the computer himself, I have to troubles making the accommodation.

[Just Plain Ruff]

Part of the reason we get the social security numbers in EMS is so that when it comes time to pay the bills, we know the 'right person' to bill for services rendered.

In the hospital, it's part of patient identification; this ensures that getting the right chart for the right face....

I disagree that you need to use a social to identify a patient. If a hospital or ambulance service is using a social as it's sole identifier then they are setting themselves up for big problems.

Case in point, I did a search at the two hospitals I have access to their Electronic Medical Record system. I did a search on social security number alone. I found one social security number associated with 42 patients and another social associated with 15 patients.

When I put a EMR system in, I strongly recommend against using the social as a identifier. They can use the social as the initial search criteria but they should then confirm the patients identity and more in the EMS systems I've worked in, we didn't have the ability to check patients for who they were.

With identity thefts being so rampant using a social as a sole identifier for verifying the patient is very risky. Just consider, two males, using same social. One has B positive blood and one has A positive. Patient with B blood gets hit by a car and needs blood, he gets A blood because they used the social of the other patient and he suffers a fatal blood reaction because they used the wrong medical record.

I could go on and on about the high risk that this takes us to.

[scratrat]

RUFFEMS - You said it all for me, thanks..

I refuse. I don't give it to EMS providers and I never give it to the hospital staff. Like Ruff said, how many times have we seen in the news where an EMS or hospital provider steals someone identity and goes on a shopping spree?? Although with my credit, you won't get much! Be that as it may, I still don't. And when they've asked for my kids socials, I tell them I don't know it. I don't care if where're in private or not. Over the years, information has become increasingly vulnerable to cyber attacks and I'm just not willing to take the risk.

[Richard B the EMT]

FDNY EMS crews are requested to get the SS #. I always tried getting it in situations where nobody but my partner and the person we asked for the number are within earshot.

If they declined, I documented they declined, without any explaination as to why, and continued with my business.

[Happiness]

The only person that gets my SIN# is the government and the bank...............................

If the medical system wants that info then they get my medical#, so I have to ask, in the states do you not have medical cards with numbers?

So as for the artical how can you create a program that wont close without a SIN#. What if your pt is incapcitated and unable to give it to you, do you have a default# that goes in?