The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has voted to delay implementation of the requirements of the Identity Theft Red Flags regulation until Saturday, Aug. 1.

The original deadline was extended pending consideration of the FTC on whether or not physicians met the definition of creditors under the law. A second deadline, May 1, has been further delayed to give creditors and financial institutions more time to develop and implement written identify theft prevention programs. Since FTC has decided that many physicians meet the legal definition of creditors and are indeed subject to the rule, physicians should develop policies to bring your office practice into compliance.

American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) has developed resources to assist physicians in complying with the rule. The following resources are intended to assist members in understanding the purpose of the rule, what is required in the physician practice setting, and to provide some ideas that may make compliance program development, implementation and training less complex and more integrated with other programs

For more information on this see: Identity Theft Red Flags Rule -- Practice Management -- American Academy of Family Physicians