Posted: January 17, 2011
Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACTA): and Dental Office Compliance
What Dental Offices Need to Know
Just when dental offices are getting comfortable with HIPAA compliance, here comes FACTA. FACTA is a consumer and employee protection law signed by President Bush on December 4, 2003, and applies to any business regardless of size. The provisions of FACTA have been phased in over the past few years and all are now in effect.
There are many components of FACTA to combat the alarmingly growing crime of identity theft. One such component is the “Red Flag Rules” which requires the establishment of guidelines for financial institutions and creditors regarding identity theft. There is current legislation in Washington which may ultimately exempt the dental office from “Red Flags Rules” but it will not eliminate them from the FACTA compliance. As of this writing, nothing in Washington has changed. The FTC has identified the following steps of a “reasonable” plan to safeguard personal information:
• Have a written security policy in place.
• Designate an employee to coordinate and be responsible for the security program.
• Conduct a “risk assessment” to identify “material internal and external” risks to the security of personal data.
• Provide employee training on the detection, prevention and response to attacks or other system failures.
• Continued evaluation and adjustment of the security policy to insure the effectiveness of the plan.
• Create a mitigation plan that will “kick in” when there is a privacy or security breach and there is a need to “repair it” immediately in the eyes of customers, government regulators and management.
It is important to stress that there are ongoing lobbying efforts in Washington, DC to exempt healthcare professionals from compliance with the “Red Flag Rules”, but not the entire FACTA regulation. The Red Flag Rules are currently in effect and healthcare professionals are expected to comply. Enforcement of this rule started December 31, 2010. Whether or not an exemption is made in the future, healthcare professionals will remain liable under FACTA for the loss of personal information, such as employees’ social security numbers, patients’ medical information, insurance ID numbers, etc, should a data breach occur. This liability could result in lawsuits awarding hundreds of thousands of dollars to the victims of identity theft as well as payment of state and federal fines.
Dental offices, as well as all healthcare professionals, need to be aware of the increasing legal obligations stemming from identity theft risks and establish reasonable security practices (this is not solely an IT issue) to protect the personal information their offices possess.
Just like OSHA, ADA (Americans with Disability Act) or HIPAA, compliance with FACTA laws are federally mandated - not optional. For more information on dental office compliance with FACTA regulations, call (877) 368-6707.
Karen Johnson, CITRMS
Karen Johnson’s career path includes 15 years in dental office management. She more recently provided consultant services to dental practices in the Dallas, Texas area and was Director of Marketing for a Dallas dental transition company. Karen also held the positions of Director of Provider Relations and Divisional Vice President of Sales for a large Texas dental plan. As a Consultant for US Identity Theft Solutions, she is an accredited specialist through the Institute of Fraud Risk Management assisting businesses with their FACTA compliance.
Julia Baker, CITRMS
Julia Baker is a Certified Identity Theft Risk Management Specialist (CITRMS) through the Institute of Fraud Risk Management and is a Consultant with US Identity Theft Solutions, LLC. Ms. Baker’s background includes dental office management and executive level management for a national dental plan company. She has served as a Board Member of the National Association of Dental Plans and was the Co- Chair and the Vice Chair of the Government Relations Commission. She has received achievement awards for outstanding contribution in the legislative and regulatory arena.
Ms. Baker has been a speaker and panelist for numerous organizations including The American Dental Association (ADA), The National Association of Dental Plans (NADP) and The World Research Group (Healthcare Conference). She is currently focusing on identity theft risk management due to impending enforcement of state and federally mandated compliance for all employers.
Views: 26