Question & Answer

Question: A Tennessee banking officer asks: "We had an inquiry from Medicaid, received in January, 1991, for information on one of our customers. The form was signed and dated in 1987. Is there an expiration date, or stale date on agency inquiries? The customer is in a nursing home and is unable to sign a new form. Should we answer? Is this covered by the Financial Privacy rule?"

Answer: The date on the inquiry form from a government agency is neither an issue or a problem under Financial Privacy. It does not address it. If there is a reasonable cause why a new form cannot be signed, our source found no problem in your answering the Medicaid inquiry.

Copyright © 1991 Bankers' Hotline. Originally appeared in Bankers' Hotline, Vol. 2, No. 1, 1/91