Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2010
This Week's News
Health insurer preauthorization policies affecting patient care
Congress clarifies red flags rule; AMA instrumental in outcome
AMA to CMS: Physician-led new models of care help patients, health system
New Medicare "Q" codes to take effect Jan. 1
Be prepared for 5010 and ICD-10
Are you ePrescribing? AMA webinar to detail incentives, penalties
This Week's News
Congress clarifies red flags rule; AMA instrumental in outcome
On Dec. 7, the U.S. House of Representatives passed S. 3987, the "Red Flag Program Clarification Act of 2010"—legislation that limits the type of creditor that must comply with the "red flags" rule. The U.S. Senate unanimously passed the bill Nov. 30, and President Obama is expected to sign it into law before the Jan. 1 deadline.
The red flags rule, originally scheduled to take effect Nov. 1, 2008, requires creditors to develop identity theft prevention and detection programs. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), physicians who do not accept payment from their patients at the time of service are creditors and must comply with the rule by developing and implementing written identity theft prevention and detection programs in their practices.
The AMA has worked closely with FTC officials and Congress and is engaged in a lawsuit with other physician groups to get the FTC to permanently remove physicians from the scope of the red flags rule. Its efforts have made a difference for physicians, with five delays of the red flags rule implementation date already.
"The AMA is pleased that this legislation supports the AMA’s long-standing argument to the FTC that physicians are not creditors," AMA President Cecil B. Wilson, MD, said in a statement. "We hope that the FTC will now withdraw its assertion that the red flags rule applies to physicians."
