Although every business or organization with an ongoing relationship with consumers should keep an eye out for the possibility of identity theft, the Red Flags Rule applies only to "financial institutions" and "creditors." To determine if your business or organization is covered by the Rule and required to develop a written identity theft Program, you’ll need to answer two questions:

    1. Is your business or organization either a "financial institution" or "creditor," as those terms are defined in the Rule?

    2. If so, do you have "covered accounts"?

Medical identity theft happens when a person seeks healthcare using someone else’s name or insurance information.  A survey conducted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) found that close to 5% of identity theft victims have experienced some form of medical identity theft.  Victims may find their benefits exhausted or face potentially life-threatening consequences due to inaccuracies in their medical records.  The cost to healthcare providers – left with unpaid bills racked up by scam artists – can be staggering, too. 

Every healthcare organization and practice must review its billing and payment procedures to determine if it’s covered by the Red Flags Rule.  Whether the law applies to you isn’t based on your status as a healthcare provider, but rather on whether your activities fall within the law’s definition of two key terms:  "creditor" and "covered account."

STATE LAWS
(e.g. California Basiclly States)

Any business in any state that experiences a loss of non-public information will notify every individual in the State of California they have had business with regardless of how long ago they transacted any business or if they were or were not a victim of the loss.

We provide Identity Theft protection education programs, compliance assistance and employee benefits to businesses across North America.  Since "Liability Follows the Data," we also offer the program that will not only help mitigate damages directly inside your business but also between those you share/transfer non-public information to/with to accomplish your business.   I am saying it again; we are not just offering protection for the business and their customers, but for the employee as well.  Businesses that do not have proper practices in place to protect their customers, employees and business, may be subject to legal actions taken against them and the individual employees by the victims, fines and possible jail time for the officers.

Our services include, but are not limited to:

"Affirmative Defense" plan - An affirmative defense is a defense used in litigation between private parties in common law jurisdictions. Affirmative defenses work to limit or excuse a defendant's liability even if the plaintiff's claim is proven, based on facts outside those claimed by the plaintiff.  Through this simple turn-key process, your business will be provided with an 'affirmative defense' necessary to respond to issues related to Identity Theft and federal privacy laws.

Employee Training - Within the privacy laws, the Federal Trade Commission indicated "The Commission also noted that 'reasonable measures' are very likely to require elements such as the establishment of policies and procedures governing disposal, as well appropriate employee training".  We provide our business clients with the required policies and procedures and the appropriate employee training at no cost to your business!

Risk Assessment Report - Via a brief Q&A session with the Business Owner, H.R. Director, or Compliance Officer, you will be provided a formal report indicating your level of compliance with FACTA, OSHA, FCRA, GLB, HIPAA & ADA. This session consists of a series of simple multiple-choice questions, which leads to the creation of a comprehensive formal report identifying your business' level of exposure to potential penalties, fines and lawsuits relative to these federal laws.

Informational Meeting - A brief 15-20 minute session with the appropriate person(s) will be conducted explaining the information contained in the Risk Assessment Report, as well as simple suggestions and recommendations on how your business can be prepared for issues related to Identity Theft and federal privacy laws.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Although health care entities may be HIPAA compliant, it MAY NOT make them compliant in regards to ALL identity theft laws.

It is easy and inexpensive to provide reasonable measures of protection for your business, employees and customers (federal mandate), but could be extremely costly to ignore the requirements of the Safeguard Rules and federal/state privacy laws.  CONTACT US TODAY!