Red Flag Rule Enforced Effective August 1, 2009
Therapists who provide services to patients without requiring those patients to pay in full at the time of service will need to comply with Federal Trade Commission (FTC) “Red Flag Rules.” We blogged back in April that practices would need to comply with these rules effective May 1, 2009. It’s important to know, now, that — effective August 1, 2009 — the FTC will begin to enforce this rule.
Red Flag rules require the development of a written Identity Theft Prevention Program. Medical identity theft refers to situations when someone uses a person’s name and other parts of their identity, such as insurance information, without the person’s knowledge or consent to obtain medical services or goods.
The FTC has posted an article called “The ‘Red Flags’ Rule: What Health Care Providers Need to Know About Complying with New Requirements for Fighting Identity Theft,” by Steven Toporoff. The article covers off on
- Who Must Comply
- Spotting Red Flags
- Setting Up Your Identity Theft Prevention Program
- What’s At Stake
We suggest that a representative from your facility reads the article to come up to speed on compliance with this rule.
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