FTC Will Grant Six-Month Delay of Enforcement of 'Red Flags' Rule Requiring Creditors and Financial Institutions to Have Identity Theft Prevention Programs
The Federal Trade Commission
will suspend enforcement of the new “Red Flags Rule” until May 1, 2009, to
give creditors and financial institutions additional time in which to
develop and implement written identity theft prevention programs. While
these regulations do not specifically mention health care providers, they
may apply to many entities in the health care industry that accept deferred
payment as the definition of “creditor” is extremely broad.
The Red Flags Rule was developed pursuant to the Fair and Accurate Credit
Transactions (FACT) Act of 2003. Under the Rule, financial institutions and
creditors with covered accounts must have identity theft prevention programs
to identify, detect and respond to patterns, practices or specific
activities that could indicate identity theft.
The full announcement can be found
here.
Please
contact a member of our
Health Care Team if you
would like to discuss
this topic further.
Health Care Commentaries is
provided by Somerset’s
Health Care Team
for our clients and other interested persons upon request. Since
technical information is presented in generalized fashion, no final
conclusion on these topics should be made without further review. For
additional information on the issues discussed, please contact a member
of our Health Care Team. This
document is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for
the purpose of avoiding tax penalties that may be imposed on the
taxpayer.
Somerset CPAs,
P.C.
3925 River Crossing Parkway, Third Floor
Indianapolis, Indiana 46240
317.472.2200 • 800.469.7206 • FAX 317.208.1200
http://healthcare.somersetcpas.com
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