The heads of the American Medical Association, the American Dental Association, the American Osteopathic Association, and the American Veterinary Medical Association have asked the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) to declare that its identity theft prevention rules (the “Red Flag Rules”) do not apply to their licensed professionals.
Following the November 2009 United States District Court decision in American Bar Association v. FTC, which held that the Red Flag Rules did not apply to legal professionals, the healthcare organizations decided to issue a joint letter to the FTC requesting the same treatment. The healthcare organizations specifically requested that the FTC: (1) announce that the rules will not be applied to licensed health care professionals until at least ninety days after the final resolution of the ABA litigation; and (2) commit that if the result of the final ABA litigation is that the Red Flag Rules will not be applied to lawyers, the FTC will provide the same exemption to licensed health care professionals.
The letter discussed the great cost and burdens on healthcare professionals in complying with the Red Flag Rules and stated that if lawyers were exempt from the rules, it would be unfair to subject healthcare professionals to them.
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