TravisCobra To Be Modified to Meet New Privacy Laws for California Residents

In July, 2001 the California Assembly passed Senate Bill 168, which is designed to improve privacy for California residents and help prevent "identity theft." The law has a provision effective July 1, 2002 that "prohibits printing an individual's Social Security number on any materials that are mailed to the individual, unless required by state or federal law."

While that provision would appear to include letters such as those produced by our TravisCobra and RBILL systems, another of the law's provisions specifically states that its requirements regarding the use of Social Security numbers shall not apply to health plans, health care providers, licensed health care professionals, or contractors until January 1, 2003. That provision "muddied the water," in the opinion of the attorneys with whom we consult, as to whether letters produced by TravisCobra and RBILL should mask the Social Security number for California residents as of July 1, 2002, or six months later.

We are modifying TravisCobra and RBILL so that they will mask out the addressee's and family members' Social Security numbers on any letters and forms produced by the systems addressed to individuals in California. During the next several weeks users of TravisCobra and/or RBILL will receive new versions of the systems, Release 6.45 of TravisCobra and 6.40 of RBILL, which will add the capability to meet the requirement of the new California law.

We're adding a Custom Option to the systems that will allow users to "Blank SS#'s on CA Letters" if they so choose. By saying "Yes" to the Option when you receive the new releases of the systems, those of our users who agree that the provisions go into effect on July 1, 2002 will be able to comply with them, and those who believe they can wait until January 1, 2003 will be able to turn on the Option at that time.

This new capability is a continuation of several features we've added to TravisCobra over the past several years to allow the system to be used to meet state benefit continuation laws as well as Federal COBRA provisions. We are planning further development of these capabilities during the next few months so that the system can help you meet these ever-increasing state requirements even more automatically.

These new releases are being delivered to all subscribers to the Support and Update Plan for the system(s). We hope they serve to show you once again that we are committed to making sure that all Travis systems are kept "ahead of the curve" as additional features and capabilities need to be added to our systems, and that you can use our systems with confidence as changes are suggested or required.

Contact Info:
Travis Software
Garth Williams
Vice President
(281) 496-3737