What is the Red Flags Rule all about?
The rule is being put in place as protection from identity theft. Identity theft is a person’s use of another’s personal identification such as name, Social Security, credit card number, or insurance information. Medical identity theft presents a real problem in the medical community. This type of theft can result in false claims being processed by medical billing companies and physicians when a patient uses another person’s insurance card and coverage. Erroneous documentation can be made in the chart of a medical identity theft victim. The FTC has identified the following to be red flags: • Consumer reporting agency notifications, warnings and alerts • Documents that are suspicious, addresses that are inconsistent, and missing social security numbers • Suspicious activity for a patient account or use of a patient account that is unusual • Receiving information regarding potential identity theft from patients, identity theft victims, or authorities of law enforcement. What should a phy
