More and more seniors are finding safety and security in continuing care communities (CCCs) throughout the country. And, while they want the increased safety and security, they do not want to lose their independence. Aging in place and maintaining that independence often involves the use of various personal service providers (PSPs) who come onto the CCC campus and create new risks. PSPs go by many names and perform many functions, including housekeeping, meal preparation, assistance with activities of daily living (bathing, grooming, eating), grocery shopping, dog walking, and driving the resident to various offsite appointments.Continue reading
Telemarketing Compliance: Legal Considerations Before You Call
By: Michael Silverman
Miami resident Adrian Abramovich certainly wasn’t laughing on Thursday May 10th, 2018 when the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) levied a $120 MILLION dollar fine on him for his alleged involvement in an illegal robodialing campaign. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai stated that Abramovich did not dispute that he had placed more than 96 million telemarketing robocalls over a three month period in 2016 without the recipient’s consent. Furthermore, Chairman Pai stated that Abramovich’s telemarketing campaign utilized caller ID “spoofing” which masks the calling party’s true phone number and causes the recipient’s caller ID to indicate that the call was being made by a local number. Abramovich’s telemarketing activities allegedly violated a variety of state and federal regulations; caller ID spoofing, for example, is expressly prohibited by the Florida Telemarketing Act, § 501.616(7).
With the record-breaking fine imposed on Abramovich, the FCC is sending a loud and clear message that it will not tolerate those individuals or entities that violate telemarketing laws. Any person or business engaged in telemarketing (be it a healthcare provider with a single telephonic sales representative or a business devoted to telemarketing with a 100 person call center) must heed the FCC’s unsubtle hint that enforcement activity of telemarketing laws is only heating up.Continue reading