Dental Practices at Risk For Non-Compliance with FTC Consumer Protection Regulations
DENVER, Colo., April 28 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — idBUSINESS (www.idBUSINESS.com), a Denver-based identity theft security expert and identity recovery services provider today became the preferred provider of the Metro Denver Dental Society (mddsdentist.com) (MDDS) for the provision of “Red Flag Rules” compliance solutions to its more than 1,500 members.
In February 2009, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) explicitly included healthcare practices in mandatory compliance requirements related to identity theft provisions added to the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA). Following months of discussion regarding the applicability of FACTA regulations to healthcare providers already compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the FTC stated “health care professionals are covered by the Rule when they regularly defer payment for goods or services.”
“MDDS and its members are concerned for the safety of patients, and their families, whose personal information is as much under our care as their dental health,” said Terri Gilpin, MDDS executive director. “We wanted to go beyond the American Dental Association’s (ADA’s) Red Flag Rules guidance to offer our members a solution that included tools for employee training and vendor assessment, both of which are critical to any program’s success.”
“idBUSINESS has clearly demonstrated its information security expertise, its capabilities related to compliance with FTC requirements and its commitment to protecting our members and their patients,” Gilpin added. “We have confidence in their ability to serve our members.”
A component of the American Dental Association (ADA), MDDS represents approximately 82 percent of all the licensed dentists in the Denver metropolitan area. The MDDS is committed to supporting the highest ethical practice of dentistry and to being the indispensable source of dental health education and community service in the Denver metropolitan area.
“As a by-product of the identity theft plague, dental practices are now required to protect their patients’ identity information or face significant financial penalties,” said idBUSINESS president Scott Sax. “Specifically, dentists that offer credit/payment terms to their patients are categorized as creditors under FACTA, and as such must comply with its provisions.”
“Enforcement of this law is imminent, making it advisable for dental practices to seek an immediate solution, since there is no ‘opting out,'” Sax added.
According to idBUSINESS, under the FACTA identity theft mandate, if a dentist with a patient roster of 200 is discovered to be non compliant whether due to information breach or FTC discovery, the following penalty will apply:
* $1,000.00 per account held (a patient file is a single account) – $200,000;
* Non-compliance will become a matter of public record;
* State authorities will be notified as applicable.
“An ideal Red Flag Rule compliance solution is built on real world forensic and information security experiences, allowing it to address both the spirit and the letter of the law,” explained Sax. “Dentists can expect to begin meeting the requirements of the law within one hour if they select a vendor with that capability. Upon satisfying the requirements, the vendor should enable dentists to download their own custom Red Flag Compliance plan.”
When vetting possible providers of Red Flag Rules compliance solutions, idBUSINESS recommends dentists select one that is willing, and able, to provide access to individual identity theft protection and reactive data breach services. It will reassure patients when they understand that their dentist’s identity theft protocol is patient-centric, and that an id theft policy can guarantee full recovery to pre-theft status, while saving an individual up to 130 working hours and $1,800 in out-of-pocket costs.
About idBUSINESS
idBUSINESS is the standard Information Security operating system for small- to mid-sized businesses. It provides information security planning tools that identify needs, assess risks, comply with the law, and secure an organization’s data. idBUSINESS customers gain access to individual identity theft protection and reactive data breach services from ID Experts, the leaders in fully-managed identity recovery, as well as services from globally recognized forensics firm Net Reaction. To learn more, please visit www.idBUSINESS.com.
About MDDS
The Metropolitan Denver Dental Society (MDDS), a component of the American Dental Association (ADA), has been serving the profession of dentistry since 1897. Our 1,500+ member dentists, representing approximately 82 percent of all the licensed dentists in the Denver metropolitan area, collectively exemplify the MDDS mission of supporting the highest ethical practice of dentistry and being the indispensable source of dental health education and community service in the Denver metropolitan area.
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