Wiki Copies of Checks/Credit cards

[slrollings]

Ok, all you compliance gurus out there, I feel I should know this, but honestly don't know where to start.

I've recently been hearing that we are not to make copies of any checks that come in, ins or personal. Not sure why, but it seems to be a big compliance deal that "everybody knows", but it's news to me.

Same thing for credit cards. We have some patients that give us their cc info, and sign authorization that we can take monthly payments from it. I was told that we aren't allowed to keep this info on file, and that we have to call the patient each month and get their approval again and again.

Neither of these make sense to me, but it seems that these both are BIG NO-NO's that could get us in deep trouble. Can anyone shed some light on this?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[btadlock1]

Ok, all you compliance gurus out there, I feel I should know this, but honestly don't know where to start.

I've recently been hearing that we are not to make copies of any checks that come in, ins or personal. Not sure why, but it seems to be a big compliance deal that "everybody knows", but it's news to me.

Same thing for credit cards. We have some patients that give us their cc info, and sign authorization that we can take monthly payments from it. I was told that we aren't allowed to keep this info on file, and that we have to call the patient each month and get their approval again and again.

Neither of these make sense to me, but it seems that these both are BIG NO-NO's that could get us in deep trouble. Can anyone shed some light on this?

Thanks in advance for your help.

It may have something to do with the red flag rules - they're not supposed to apply to physicians, but they might be trying to avoid any misconceptions - Insurance checks - now that's kind of odd. I don't recall whether we make copies of those or not, but I don't think we're not allowed to. We definitely make copies of all of the checks we send out. Sounds like a company policy erring on the side of caution to me - you're certainly not going to get into trouble for it.