Medical Practices Now Need to Act Like the TSA
Yep, it’s true. Your staff need to be comfortable asking patients for a photo id—one that hopefully will match their insurance cards.
Why? Because on May 1st, the so-called Red Flag rules go into effect. These rules enforced by the FTC are designed to reduce identity theft and apply to all patients—evidently HIPAA isn’t enough.
With the economic downturn you can bet that family members are sharing insurance cards. Doctors and managers at recent courses shared a number of incidents that are scary with regard to multiple people on a card.
What should get your attention is this: if and when the insurance company discovers that you operated on a non-insured and that you were paid--they will demand a refund.
Better be safe than sorry! Change your front desk procedure now. Best practices also dictate having a photo attached to the patient’s record in the computer.
There are a lot of other provisions to be aware of. An excellent reference appeared in the AAOS Now story by Marty Krawchek. Link here: http://www.aaos.org/news/aaosnow/dec08/managing5.asp
Another item to be concerned about is the safety of patient credit card numbers. Face it—a professional identity thief would be like a kid in a candy store in your office.
Review procedures for securing the numbers.
To be in full compliance, you must have a written document that outlines the steps above that you have taken to prevent, detect, and mitigate identity theft. It’s mandatory and fines can be assessed for non-compliance.
Article provided by Karen Zupko and Associates.