According to the Standards of Practice, all physiotherapists are expected to take appropriate steps to verify the identity of clients. The CPTA’s new Virtual Care Guide includes information about identity verification in the context of virtual care. The College included this information due to reported instances of individuals engaging in identity theft and misrepresented themselves as regulated health professionals; providing inappropriate and unauthorized health services to clients. The College has also published a consumer protection article for physiotherapy clients, advising them of the issue and the steps they can take to avoid being a victim of this type of misrepresentation.
Physiotherapists should consider the risk of identity theft and misrepresentation when working with clients, both within virtual settings and in-person practice, and should identify reasonable measures to address the needs of their practice context.
Why?
- To ensure that the correct physiotherapy services are provided to the client.
- To ensure that the client receiving care is who they say they are.
- To help mitigate fraudulent billing and harm to insurance beneficiaries (e.g., misappropriation of a person’s third-party benefits).
- To ensure that any physiotherapy documentation ultimately added to the provincial health record is linked to the correct person’s health record.
How?
The College recommends that physiotherapists verify client identities at the start of the therapeutic relationship. There are several ways to do so.
- Ask to see government issued identification to confirm the client’s identity (e.g., driver's license and Alberta health care card).
- Ask to see two pieces of identification that include the client’s name, date of birth or address (e.g., Alberta Health Care Card, Third Party Insurer Card, driver’s license or government issued photo identification, or a bill), when services are delivered virtually.
- Have the client state at least two (2) client identifiers (e.g., name, date of birth) and confirm that the information matches that found in a secure database (in situations where the physiotherapist has access to a secure database that contains this type of information).
Identify Yourself!
Physiotherapists should expect that clients will want to verify the physiotherapist’s identity. Physiotherapists are encouraged to:
- Introduce themselves following the N.O.D. principle of providing their name, occupation and duty.
- Encourage clients to confirm the physiotherapist’s registration status, credentials, and practice locations using the Verify a Physiotherapist feature of the College’s website.
- Consider displaying their practice permit at the start of the virtual visit, so that the client can verify that the person presenting themselves as a physiotherapist is indeed a physiotherapist.
For more detailed information, see Appendix E of the Virtual Care Guide for Alberta Physiotherapists.
