LESS THAN 30 DAYS TO FTC RED FLAG DEADLINE FOR HEALTHCARE
With less than 30 days left to the FTC Red Flag enforcement
deadline May 1, many hospitals and most clinics and medical
offices have not even started on their compliance
policies.
Published Apr 3, 2009
With less than 30 days left to the FTC Red Flag enforcement
deadline May 1, many hospitals and most clinics and medical
offices have not even started on their compliance
policies.
Why does the regulation apply to physicians, clinics, and
hospitals?
Most healthcare providers are covered by these regulations,
even though they are not used to being regulated by agencies
like the Federal Trade Commission that deals more with
consumer fraud or those that typically regulate financial
institutions. Most healthcare providers fall under the law
due to its definition of Creditor which applies to personal
accounts that are paid after the service is rendered or
which are intended to be paid in installments.
Most healthcare accounts or charges are not paid in advance
of service, but even if a provider generally provides care
on a pre-paid basis, accepting patient payments plus
insurance payments amounts to a multiple payment account
that would make the provider subject to the Red Flag
regulations.
Not-For-Profit and Government Entity Organizations:
The FTC position has been consistently to apply for-profit
rules for those portions of not-for-profit operations that
are basically commercial in nature – specifically,
billing and accounting practices. Healthcare providers
organized as not-for-profit operations, such as some
hospitals and federally qualified clinics, are therefore
still liable for compliance.
Similarly, state, county, city, and special district owned
facilities or practices would be subject to the regulation,
as the FTC specifically has extended its enforcement to
governmental units as well.
Quick solution?
For those of you who still haven't launched your compliance
policies and procedures, I have fashioned a quick-compliance
toolkit. This kit was created for clients of Johnson
Insurance, and I have been doing training programs in various
communities in the Wisconsin area. After meeting our own
client need, we have about 50 of the CD toolkits available
and I have been given permission to offer those last CD's to
our readers of this newsletter.
If you are interested in full details, you can go to
www.medlaw.com/toolkit.htm.
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