The November 1, 2009 deadline for creating and implementing an Identity Theft Protection and Prevention Program required by FTC Rules is fast approaching. The Identity Theft Red Flag Rules apply to all organizations with accounts primarily for personal, family or household purposes that permit multiple payments – this includes chiropractic clinics -why – because most hospitals and patient care facilities extend credit to patients for deferred payment of treatment costs.

These health care entities must implement an Identity Theft Protection and Prevention Program to identify, detect and respond to the possible existence of identity theft with respect to these accounts. 

To obtain your Red Flag Rule Compliance program and Employee Training Module, please follow the link provided.

The “red flags” rule applies to all healthcare clinics — large and small — that are creditors, or that offer “covered accounts” for their patients.  This absolutely includes chiropractic clinics!  The red flag rule requires such clinics to develop and implement a plan that helps recognize the warnings signs (or “red flags”) associated with identity theft and fraud.  The requirements, which will be enforced starting November 1, 2009, are meant to shift the burden of preventing identity theft from consumers to your clinic.

To help you get into compliance, K2 Chiro offers an effective Red Flag Rule compliance program and employee training module.  Visit our store and receive your compliance program today!

Ready or not, the Red Flag Rules will take effect on November 1, 2009. Will your practice be prepared?  If not, you’re not only putting yourself and your practice at risk; you’re also exposing your clients to the threat of identity theft.

The Red Flag Rules:
The Red Flag Rules are a set of policies that require chiropractors to create, implement, and maintain written identity theft protection programs to prevent consumer identity theft. While some chiropractors have regarded the Red Flag Rules as an unnecessary burden on a healthcare system that is already strained, the Red Flag Rules will actually benefit their practices by establishing policies that protect themselves from identity theft and potential lawsuits from patients whose identity have been compromised.

The Implications of Red Flag Rules:
Don’t let your practice or your clients become a victim of identity theft. The Red Flag Rules aren’t just mandatory. They’re smart for business as well as patient health and safety.  The sooner you implement the FTC Red Flag Rules into your practice, the sooner you’ll ensure 100% privacy, security, and compliance.

To assist chiropractic clinics, K2 Chiro offers an effective Red Flag Rule compliance program and employee training module.  Visit our store and receive your compliance program today!

Only one more month until the Federal Trade Commission begins enforcing Red Flag Rules that require creditors—including chiropractors– to take steps to minimize their patients’ identity theft risks.

The FTC developed the Red Flag Rules in response to increasing medical ID theft complaints from patients and insurance companies. Though there are no exact statistics on annual occurrence, the FTC estimates about 250,000 cases of identity theft occur each year.

Medical identity theft encompasses financial identity theft, insurance fraud, benefits fraud and can result in medical record errors. In addition, medical ID theft causes millions of dollars in losses to health insurance providers, including federal programs Medicaid and Medicare.

In order to meet Red Flag Rule standards, creditors must:
1. Know the warning signs of medical identity theft
2. Have a response plan if they identify a possible red flag
3. Designate a go-to person to enact the response plan
4. Train employees on your plan
5. Document all of the above

To assist chiropractic clinics, K2 Chiro offers an effective Red Flag Rule compliance program and employee training module.  Visit our store and receive your compliance program today!

The “red flags” rule applies to all healthcare clinics — large and small — that are creditors, or that offer “covered accounts” for their patients. The rules require such clinics to devise a plan that helps them recognize the warnings signs (or “red flags”) associated with fraud and identity theft.  The requirements, which will be enforced starting November 1, 2009, are meant to shift the burden of preventing identity theft from consumers to clinics.

To assist chiropractic clinics, K2 Chiro offers an effective Red Flag Rule compliance program and employee training module.  Visit our store and receive your compliance program today!

To safeguard patient data and stymie potential identity thieves, K2 Chiro has a few tips for your Chiropractic office.  They’re based on the most common errors that risk assessors come across.

Stay on Top of Your IT Vendor:
Often vendor managed information systems are the ones that are maintained most sloppily – terrible passwords, multiple critical patches missing, etc. If need be, change the administration password when they are done working on it, and isolate it from the network via a firewall to avoid exposed vulnerabilities.

Restrict Internet Use
Chiropractic Clinics are one of those environments that have no good need for its users to have unrestricted access to the Internet. Use your firewall to restrict access to only the services that are truly needed, and shut down the rest.

Don’t be Fooled By Appearances
Remember that you can never really know what someone is thinking. The aside “Oh, she would never do something like that” often turns into “I would never thought that she was capable of something like that.”

The deadline for implementing your Red Flag Rule policy is November 1, 2009.  To obtain a Red Flag Rule Compliance Program and Employee Training Module, please visit the K2 Chiro store today!

Health care professionals, including chiropractors, fall into the category of “creditors” because they do not always receive payment in full from their patients at the time of service. Because of this creditor designation, chiropractic clinics are required to comply with the Red Flag Rule provisions.

The Red Flags Rule is a U.S. federal law that requires most every business and organization to develop and implement an identity theft prevention program. The purpose of the identity theft prevention program is to authenticate the identity of patients to reduce incidences of identity theft. Authentication is required when a new financial or credit account is opened or when a change is requested on an existing covered account.

To obtain a Red Flag Rule Compliance Policy and Employee Training Module, please visit the K2 Chiro store today!

The benefits of running your own chiropractic clinic are many.  However, there can be a downside of going it alone.   Small business owners often find they lack the expertise (or time) to develop a solid and efficient infrastructure to their business.  Additionally, they often lack the professional guidance necessary to take their practice to the next level. 

K2 Chiro offers professional resources to assit  owners of chiropractic clinics in the development and expansion of their practice.   Practice management tools include:

· Business Plans
· Marketing Plans
· Position Descriptions
· Performance Review
· Patient Satisfaction Surveys
· Human Resource Policies and Procedures
· Red Flag Rule and HIPAA Compliance Plans

In addition to the practice management tools listed above, K2 Chiro offers consulting services to the chiropractic industry.  Typical consulting projects include:

-Strategic Planning
-Practice Development and Expansion
-Review of Contracts 
-Staff Recruitment and Selection
-EMR Vendor Research & Selection
-Operations and Business Performance Analysis 

To discuss a consulting project, please e-mail us at info@k2chiro.com.

As clinics increasingly rely on technology to store and maintain patient data, including medical records, the risk of identity theft also increases. The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) has imposed new regulations intended to combat identity theft.  Known as the Red Flag Rules, these new regulations require healthcare institutions, including chiropractic clinics, to develop and implement a written identity theft prevention program to identify and combat identity theft in connection with new and existing customer accounts. Clinics must meet this requirement by November 1st, 2009.

To obtain your red flag rule compliance program and employee training module, please follow the link to our store.   While you are there, check out our other practice management tools including:

· Business Plans
· Marketing Plans
· Position Descriptions
· Performance Review
· Patient Satisfaction Surveys
· Human Resource Policies and Procedures
· HIPAA Compliance Plans

View a short presentation on the Red Flag Rule and your obligation as a chiropractic clinic:

View the Red Flag Rule Presentation!

After the short clip, please obtain your red flag rule policy and employees training module.  Also, check out our other practice management tools including:

· Business Plans
· Marketing Plans
· Position Descriptions
· Performance Review
· Patient Satisfaction Surveys
· Human Resource Policies and Procedures
· HIPAA Compliance Plans