This month Congress issued a clarification on the Red Flags Rule scheduled to take effect at the end of this year. It should come as a relief that doctors are no longer subject to this new federal regulation.
The basic idea behind the Red Flags Rule is a good one: Entities who are creditors possess sensitive information about customers and should safeguard that data carefully. They should have policies in place to detect and respond to signs of ID theft.
The clarification ruling asserts that doctors are not “creditors” in this respect, even if they accept credit cards as payment for services rendered. As it is, doctors and their practices are already subject to HIPAA regulations, which reinforce patient data protection and confidentiality.
This, along with the one-year extension of the Medicare healthcare provider payment rates, is some welcome end-of-year good news.
Happy New Year everyone, from the staff at Chiropractic Economics.
