"President Obama signed into law a bill that clarified the term "creditor" in the Red Flags Rule, excluding doctors and other small businesses, on Saturday.
"Red Flag Program Clarification Act of 2010 (Bill, S. 3987) sponsored by Senators John Thune (R-SD) and Mark Begich (D-AK), was scheduled to go into effect on Dec. 31. It was first introduced in the Senate on Nov. 30 and unanimously passed on the same day. The Senate passed the bill by voice vote on Dec. 7.
"The Red Flags rule was developed under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, in which Congress directed the FTC and other agencies to develop regulations requiring "creditors" and "financial institutions" to address the risk of identity theft. The resulting Red Flags Rule requires all such entities that have "covered accounts" to develop and implement written identity theft prevention programs to help identify, detect and respond to patterns, practices or specific activities known as "red flags" that could indicate identity theft."
- Molly Merrill, associate editor, Healthcare IT News, Dec. 21, 2010
I hope this will be helpful to those who have been told by their local hospitals and doctors offices that patients must provide photo ID that is to be scanned and filed due to "insurance fraud" being a "new patient" or because of a "new policy." You do not need to provide photo ID.
DeAnne Hamilton, Green Springs
