Healthcare Professionals Call on FTC for Exemption from its Red Flags Rule
Will health care providers be the second profession to escape the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Red Flags Rule? The heads of the American Dental Association, the American Medical Association, the American Osteopathic Association, and the American Veterinary Medical Association hope so, and they're asking the FTC to declare that its identity theft prevention rule (Red Flags Rule or Rule) does not apply to their licensed professionals.
In light of the November 2009 United States District Court decision in American Bar Association v. FTC, which held that the Red Flags Rule did not apply to legal professionals, the healthcare organizations issued a joint letter to the FTC requesting the same treatment.
The healthcare organizations specifically requested that the FTC: (1) Announce that the Rule will not be applied to licensed health care professionals until at least ninety days after the final resolution of the ABA litigation and (2) Commit that if the result of the final ABA litigation is that the Red Flags Rule will not be applied to lawyers, the FTC will not apply the Rule to licensed health care professionals either.
The letter noted the substantial cost and burdens on healthcare professionals in complying with the Rule and stated that if lawyers were exempt from the Rule it would be "manifestly unfair" to subject healthcare professionals it.
