FTC produces rule for doctors to police ID theft

BTC - Advances in healthcare records management strangely puts doctors in the liability role, this time for patient identity theft.  The AMA filed suit to stall the a "red flags rule" based on banking privacy rulings pushing medical administrators into the role of (not just data handlers) creditors.

"This unjustified federal regulation of medicine treats physician practices like banks, credit card companies and mortgage lenders," AMA President-elect Cecil B. Wilson, MD, said in a statement. "The extensive bureaucratic burden of complying with the red flags rule outweighs any benefit to the public."

The nature of this ruling and the exchanges leads us to a couple of queries:

1) Is patient medical identity another form of debtor currency?

2) If someone steals your identity are they also stealing your healthcare "credit"?