During a conference call Tuesday for AHA members, experts discussed how hospitals may be affected by the Federal Trade Commission’s “red flags” rule. The rule requires financial institutions and certain creditors to implement a program to detect and respond to warning signs that might indicate potential identity theft. Speakers included representatives from the FTC and Hogan & Hartson, AHA’s outside counsel on privacy-related issues. Lawrence Hughes, AHA assistant general counsel, said, “The general advice on the call from the FTC to hospitals is to make a good-faith effort to implement a policy to detect and respond to red flags. The rule allows flexibility to tailor your program to the size and complexity of the hospital’s operations.” The primary focus of hospitals’ compliance efforts are likely to involve systematizing procedures into a consolidated written format and obtaining board approval of the initial written policy. AHA members can access a recording and FTC slide presentation from the call at www.aha.org/redflags. The Web site will be updated as new resources become available.