Last month, the AOA, AMA and the Medical Society of the District of Columbia (MSDC) filed a lawsuit in federal court last week seeking to prevent the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from extending identity theft regulations to physicians.
The complaint, prepared by the Litigation Center of the AMA and State Medical Societies, targets the contentious "Red Flags" Rule, which requires creditors to implement safeguards against identity theft. The medical societies charge that the FTC's rule exceeds the powers delegated to it by Congress and that its application to physicians is "arbitrary, capricious and contrary to the law."
At the request of Congress, the FTC has now delayed the enforcement of the "Red Flags" rule until December 31, 2010; the Red Flags rule was scheduled to go into effect on June 1. Read more on the delay at
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2010/05/redflags.shtm
