Your medical information is a goldmine for fraudsters.

By stealing your electronic health records and other forms, thieves can discover everything from your Social Security number to previous diagnoses and current prescriptions.

"Your medical file is about the most complete file someone could get on you," says Adam Levin, chairman and founder of CyberScout, a provider of identity and data defense services, and author of "Swiped: How to Protect Yourself in a World Full of Scammers, Phishers, and Identity Thieves." "This is a pathway into your life. It could make you the victim of identity theft, jeopardize your life, jeopardize your ability to get a job or be used as a point of blackmail."

[See: 10 Ways to Protect Yourself From Online Fraud .]

Scammers have myriad strategies to get ahold of your health records, experts say. A health care servicer or insurance provider may fall victim to a security breach, like Anthem did in 2015. A nurse or staff member may decide to access your records and use them for nefarious purposes.

Data breaches are not uncommon: In the first quarter of 2018, 1.13 million patient records were breached, according to data analyzed by Protenus, a company helping hospitals protect patient privacy.

It's important to understand, experts say, that a breach of your health care information doesn't equate to medical identity theft . "There are data breaches, where the data [are] compromised, and there's identity theft, where [they're] actually used," says Eva Velasquez, president and CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center.

If you are the victim of medical identity theft – where a thief uses your personal information to access medical goods or services – you could be billed for health care services and procedures you never accessed. You may find that your insurance benefits have been tapped out by someone else, and you can't use them when you need them. You might even have a debt in collections for a medical service you never used.

The most worrying result? The misuse of your information can result in the fraudster's medical records getting mixed with yours, which can become dangerous to your health.

For example, the commingling of records may delete your drug allergy warnings, erase records of previous medical procedures or mislead doctors about special medical directives. It might prevent you from getting the proper care you need in an emergency.

While Velasquez hasn't heard of a specific situation where someone has died due to medical identity theft, "it is possible that it could end your life or make you very sick," she says.

With all these risks, how can consumers prevent medical identity theft – and protect their financial health and physical safety, too? Here's what to know.

[Read: How Consumers Can Protect Their Online Privacy Right Now .]

Ask questions. Inquiring about security practices at your hospital, insurance company or doctor's office may seem awkward and intimidating. But consumers need to advocate for their privacy to encourage health care providers to take security more seriously, experts say.

"Don't be afraid to ask the hard questions of the places you seek care," says Robert Lord, president and co-founder of Protenus. "It can be intimidating. You're often going to go to the hospital on the worst day of your life, and there's an asymmetric balance of knowledge ... but we can empower ourselves to be privacy officers to protect our information."

You don't have to get into the nitty-gritty details of a hospital's cybersecurity strategies and goals. But staffers may be able to confirm, for example, the existence of a cybersecurity team, talk about staff security training or relay some of steps the hospital is taking to keep data secure from threats.

Double down by asking your insurer whether it monitors the security protocols of the providers who are part of your medical plan, Velasquez says.

Look out for red flags. Keep an eye out for signs that your medical identity has been stolen. "In the same way you'd monitor your credit statement, you want to monitor any bills that come from your hospital, ask questions and be curious," Lord says.

That means reviewing any receipts, medical bills and documents from your health care servicers and insurance providers. Look through your insurer's explanation of benefits form, commonly called an EOB. If you see an item that looks unfamiliar, ask questions. It could be a sign that your medical accounts have been co-opted by someone else.

Likewise, if you start receiving calls from debt collectors about a medical debt you don't think you owe , consider following up. Other red flags include finding a medical collections notice on your credit report, being denied insurance because you've reached a benefit limit or finding that your medical records show a condition you don't have.

Seek help. If you know that your medical identity has been stolen, you can start taking steps on your own to work through it. Those steps can include requesting copies of your medical records, which might require paying a fee, and asking medical providers to correct false information. The Federal Trade Commission offers a helpful checklist of steps to take when working through medical identity theft on your own.

Experts warn, however, that navigating this process alone can be intimidating. Recovering from medical identity theft can become more complex if, for example, multiple health facilities have received erroneous records, or your government health care benefits have been compromised. Accessing and amending health records may be more complex than fixing a fraudulent credit report, some experts say.

If the idea of doing it on your own is overwhelming, ask your insurance provider or employer whether they offer a program through which you can access identity repair services. You may choose to pay for identity theft help through one of the three credit-reporting bureaus – Equifax, Experian or TransUnion – Levin says. Velasquez recommends getting in contact through the Identity Theft Resource Center, which offers repair services for free. "You don't have to go it alone," she says.

11 Strategies for Keeping Your Health Data Secure

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