ACCP Acts To Protect Physician Members From Costly and Burdensome Regulations

The American College of Chest Physicians, in partnership with 26 other medical specialty societies, has filed a motion to intervene as a plaintiff in the case of the American Medical Association, the American Osteopathic Association, and the Medical Society for the District of Columbia v. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), to declare unlawful and set aside the FTC's application of the Red Flags Rule to ACCP physician members and physicians in general.

The Red Flags Rule would identify physicians as "creditors," requiring them to implement costly and time-consuming measures that could adversely impact patient care.

"The ACCP, along with its partner societies, strongly believes that physicians do not reasonably fall within the definition of 'creditors'," said Kalpalatha K. Guntupalli, MD, FCCP, ACCP President. "The ACCP is directly addressing this issue in order to protect its members from costly regulations that could, ultimately, impact physicians' time spent caring for patients."

In November 2007, the FTC issued a set of regulations known as the "Red Flags Rule," requiring that creditors develop and implement written identity theft prevention and detection programs to protect consumers from identity theft. The definition of "creditor" is broad and includes businesses or organizations that regularly provide goods or services first and allow customers to pay later. The FTC has taken the position that physicians are "creditors" under the federal Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 and that they must comply with the FTC's Red Flags Rule if they defer payment. Implementation of this rule has been delayed until December 31, 2010, because of concerns regarding who will be subject to its requirements.

Under the Rule, "creditors" must develop and implement a written identity theft prevention program that is designed to detect, prevent, and mitigate identity theft in connection with the opening of an account or any existing account. The rule states that not demanding payment in full at the time of service, including through the billing of insurance, makes practices "creditors."

The Rule says: If you collect, store, or share non-public information from patients (and/or employees), such as Social Security numbers, medical insurance and/or banking information... or if you have patients complete medical care forms, you or your third party service providers run credit and/or background checks and handle debt collection for your business, you MUST comply with this federal law or be subject to significant fines and penalties!

The ACCP, along with its partner societies, strongly believes that physicians do not reasonably fall within the definition of "creditors," and as stated in the motion ACCP and the partnering societies filed August 16, 2010, "The FTC's application of the Rule to physicians is contrary to the longstanding principle that when Congress intends to regulate the practice of medicine, it does so explicitly, and that this rule will significantly harm the physician members of the [26 medical specialty societies], and physicians generally, because compliance will be costly, time consuming, and adversely impact patient care."

Learn more about the final Consent Motion and the medical societies intervening as plaintiffs.