Help with Hippa Screw Up :(

[EnC_Plus3]

Back about a year ago I began cleaning up our credit (all negative marks are medical). With little time on my hands to do it I didn't read everything as well as I should have. So, here I am attempting to get these medical collections taken care of again. I have a total of 9 medical collections, 6 of them are from Kaiser. I made the horrible mistake of initially contacting the CA (a year ago) for validation...then read that is not the proper course of action. Now on my credit reports it states, "Account in Dispute, Reported by Subscriber."

 

I'm lost as what I should do now. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated and I have learned from my mistake and plan to follow directions more carefully.

[Why Chat]

Back about a year ago I began cleaning up our credit (all negative marks are medical). With little time on my hands to do it I didn't read everything as well as I should have. So, here I am attempting to get these medical collections taken care of again. I have a total of 9 medical collections, 6 of them are from Kaiser. I made the horrible mistake of initially contacting the CA (a year ago) for validation...then read that is not the proper course of action. Now on my credit reports it states, "Account in Dispute, Reported by Subscriber."

 

I'm lost as what I should do now. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated and I have learned from my mistake and plan to follow directions more carefully.

How long ago was the medical treatment for these accounts??

Get your REAL credit reports To order, visit annualcreditreport.com,or call 1-877-322-8228

Opt out

http://www.whychat.5u.com/OPTOUTINST.HTML

If you have moved since the dates of medical service try to get your old address deleted.

Send a handwritten letter to each CRA with a copy of the personal data on your credit report and the "old" address(es) circled in red.Tell them the addresses of xxxx are invalid and that you are concerned about id theft/fraud and want them removed from your report.Include proof of your current address, a copy of your SS card, a copy of your drivers license and a recent original utility bill. If you have GOOD old closed accounts, write to them and ask that your address be updated in their records as you may wish to do business with them again.

 

Once that is done, send each CRA this:

http://www.whychat.5u.com/hipaadisp.html

 

Come back to THIS post for further instructions after you have the results from the above steps.

[EnC_Plus3]

Thank you for your reply...

 

The accounts range from 2009-2011. All are associated with my current address.

 

I did the opt out and address removals last year, so should be all good there.

 

I also made a mistake somehow when I was reading my reports, I actually have a total of 12 medical collections, although 2 of them I am certain are completely incorrect.

 

Not certain if this makes a difference or not, but my insurance covers all ER visits to other hospitals except for a $50.00 co-payment...so 2 ER visits are listed on my reports at $612 and $545, then another collection agency lists a $53 an a $54. I am sure that my insurance paid for the $612 and $545 and I legitimately owe the 2 $50.00 co-pays plus the interest apparently. I am certain that I can get the information about payment from my insurance without much hassle so I will work on that this week.

 

OC CA Amount Type

 

1. ER U* CB of U 54.00 Medical

 

2. ER U* CB of U 53.00 Medical

 

3. Dr. B CB of P 285.00 Medical

 

4. Kaiser USBC 19.00 Medical

 

5. Kaiser USBC 19.00 Medical

 

6. Kaiser USBC 19.00 Medical

 

7. Kaiser USBC 19.00 Medical

 

8. Kaiser USBC 62.00 Medical

 

9. Kaiser USBC 63.00 Medical

 

10. ER U* NCO 545.00 Medical

 

11. ER U* NCO 612.00 Medical

 

12. Dr. S ?Not Listed 50.00 Medical

 

I added in each account so that I can update on each as they get deleted Astericks are beside the accounts that were for the same service/day.

 

 

My last question before I send out the Hipaa Disputes is should I send them out for all accounts or just the ones I am prepared to pay off immediatly? I have timeline set up to pay everyone I owe but I have it spread over 4 months, I'm wouldn't want to start the process and then be unprepared to pay everyone at the same time.

 

Thanks again WhyChat

[EnC_Plus3]

I have a small update in regards to the two accounts that I believed were completely inaccurate, turns out they are accurate to some degree. It is from 1 visit but my insurance denied the claim as it was dental (dealt with at an out of town hospital). My insurance covered the ER room fees but not the physician fees. My medical insurance company said to contact my dental insurance company, which I did. They said that I have a year from the date of service to file a claim so I've printed up the claim forms and have everything ready to go. My question is...on these 2 accounts...should I continue with the pre-hippa or should I have the insurance take care of it first and hope that because of the misunderstanding they will remove it? If I opt to go with the insurance and hypothetically they pay 80%, leaving about $220.00 balance can I then do the pre-hipaa? I just hate to get stuck with an $1100.00+ bill that will be covered by insurance.

 

The other thing I find "fishy" and I didn't state this before, is that the two accounts (545 & 612) are actually reported twice each by NCO...one for each is listed as NCO 2 and the others are listed as RMA/NCO99, so for 1 ER visit it's listed 4 times. I'm betting this won't make any difference when it comes down to it, but it certainly is annoying!

 

Thanks in advance for any help/suggestions.

[Why Chat]

I have a small update in regards to the two accounts that I believed were completely inaccurate, turns out they are accurate to some degree. It is from 1 visit but my insurance denied the claim as it was dental (dealt with at an out of town hospital). My insurance covered the ER room fees but not the physician fees. My medical insurance company said to contact my dental insurance company, which I did. They said that I have a year from the date of service to file a claim so I've printed up the claim forms and have everything ready to go. My question is...on these 2 accounts...should I continue with the pre-hippa or should I have the insurance take care of it first and hope that because of the misunderstanding they will remove it? If I opt to go with the insurance and hypothetically they pay 80%, leaving about $220.00 balance can I then do the pre-hipaa? I just hate to get stuck with an $1100.00+ bill that will be covered by insurance.

 

The other thing I find "fishy" and I didn't state this before, is that the two accounts (545 & 612) are actually reported twice each by NCO...one for each is listed as NCO 2 and the others are listed as RMA/NCO99, so for 1 ER visit it's listed 4 times. I'm betting this won't make any difference when it comes down to it, but it certainly is annoying!

 

Thanks in advance for any help/suggestions.

Send the initial dispute letters to each CRA listing ALL medical accounts.

http://www.whychat.5u.com/hipaadisp.html

The ONLY way to get this straightened out is to have a basis for further actions, which MAY include paying the OC with the HIPAA letter.

[EnC_Plus3]

Not trying to jump too far ahead but I am curious at what point I pay these off? I'm hoping to see some small results soon from the pre-hipaa letters. As I see those come off the reports do I then send the payments with the OC letter to the OC's? Or should I expect to hear back from the OC first? I was able to go ahead and work it out to pay all these medical collections at once rather than over a few months. I feel like these funds are burning a hole in my pocket, I will feel so much better once they've been removed and paid.

[Why Chat]

Not trying to jump too far ahead but I am curious at what point I pay these off? I'm hoping to see some small results soon from the pre-hipaa letters. As I see those come off the reports do I then send the payments with the OC letter to the OC's? Or should I expect to hear back from the OC first? I was able to go ahead and work it out to pay all these medical collections at once rather than over a few months. I feel like these funds are burning a hole in my pocket, I will feel so much better once they've been removed and paid.

You need to first determine the relationship between the reporting CA and the OC

 

It is POSSIBLE that you will get a complete deletion from all reports of all accounts, which means you do not owe anyone anything.

 

If you get a direct response from the reporting CA ( in response to the initial dispute to the CRA) then you have PROOF of a current relationship and at THAT POINT you can pay the OC with the HIPAA letter, insert "a".

http://www.whychat.5u.com/hipltr.html

 

If you get a "verified" from the CRA(s) WITHOUT any response from the reporting CA, then you have to send the reporting CA the medical DV and another follow up dispute to the CRA.

http://www.whychat.5u.com/ltrcavalhipaa.html

 

The funds may be burning a hole in your pocket, but it would be foolhardy to pay $$ you don't really owe, or pay the OC without ANY chance of getting a deletion. You DO NOT want to pay the CA under any circumstances, as a "paid" collection is far worse for your credit score than an unpaid one because it is still a derogatory, but years newer.

 

If you get a total deletion of everything you can use some of those funds to make a contribution to one of the charities listed at the bottom of my website

Edited July 15, 2012 by Why Chat

[EnC_Plus3]

Thank you WhyChat, I will definately make a donation either way!

 

 

Okay, new issue....I received a letter from West Asset Managment today for a settlement offer on these medical bills...not even considering it as I am following the Hipaa process....but I'm wondering how this will play out when the CRA's receive my pre-hipaa's and I'm assuming NCO sold to West Asset within the past 2 weeks. Any suggestions, thoughts, or just wait n see what happens?

[EnC_Plus3]

I just started working on my wife's reports and she also has some medical collections. She has a medical collection first reported 9/2007, we're in California so I believe this is past the SOL as I've read that medical SOL in California is 4 years. Am I correct, or reading wrong information about the medical sol on collections?

[Why Chat]

I just started working on my wife's reports and she also has some medical collections. She has a medical collection first reported 9/2007, we're in California so I believe this is past the SOL as I've read that medical SOL in California is 4 years. Am I correct, or reading wrong information about the medical sol on collections?

Follow the same HIPAA instructions for your wife.

 

The SOL for ALL accounts in Ca. is 4 years

[EnC_Plus3]

I have an update, Trans Union removed all accounts I included in the pre-hipaa letter. I ordered myfico for TU and it was 668! WhyChat, you should have a cape! I know the process isn't complete but I'm quite happy with the results thus far! Thank you x 1000!

[EnC_Plus3]

WhyChat, I have been reading up on your HIPAA process since my husband is using it for our medical collections. From what I understand the pre-hipaa letters are intended to establish a relationship between the OC and the CA, meaning that the CA is actually collecting FOR the OC not simply a jdb. Am I understanding this properly? If the CA is a jdb then the account was sold and the OC is no longer involved at all because they sold the debt. Please forgive my ignorance here but I prefer to understand than just follow along blindly.

[Why Chat]

WhyChat, I have been reading up on your HIPAA process since my husband is using it for our medical collections. From what I understand the pre-hipaa letters are intended to establish a relationship between the OC and the CA, meaning that the CA is actually collecting FOR the OC not simply a jdb. Am I understanding this properly? If the CA is a jdb then the account was sold and the OC is no longer involved at all because they sold the debt. Please forgive my ignorance here but I prefer to understand than just follow along blindly.

OK,

Here is a brief review of medical collections.

 

Original bill from OC ( can be full amount or co-pay & deductible amount) not paid at time of service.

 

Balance bill, "left over" co-pay or deductible billed AFTER insurance pays their part, not paid when billed.

 

Disputed or improperly billed balance, not paid when billed

 

"Balance bill" that should have been written off when insurance paid the CONTRACT amount, never billed.

 

The OC will send valid collection accounts to their billing department who in turn sends it to their business associate CA

Hospital OCs also transmit batches of uncollected bills to CAs, sometimes years after date of service to comply with State statutes because of reimbursement for "no-pays"

The OC also transmits to their billing department for accounting purposes only the "balance bills"

 

The original CA attempts collection activities, usually for up to 2 years and reports the accounts, they then sell the account, usually in a batch to data miners who in turn transfer/sell the accounts to JDBs

 

The billing department also sells its data to data miners, sometimes by accident including bills that have been paid or that were "balance billing".

 

ONLY the original OC billing department and the primary CA have a business relationship, anyone else DOES NOT

 

So, in a long answer to a short question-- MOST of the entries on credit reports from CAs where the date of service is more than 2 years old are NOT in a current business relationship with the OC. Many entries are NOT VALID, either billing errors, illegal "balance billing" or not even accounts that belong to you. ID theft/fraud is VERY prevelant in medical accounts.

[EnC_Plus3]

Thank you for the clarification, it certainly makes more sense now.

[EnC_Plus3]

Great news today! I went to check on hubby's dispute status's and Equifax has removed all negative accounts! His EQ now has 2 positive accounts and 0 negative, FICO of 607. I'm guessing that's because he has less than 2 years of credit history with Cap 1 and only 1 month of credit history with our secured loan from our credit union. Hoping to see that score climb each month!

 

Bad news is that Experian is a pain. The updated 2 accounts to "Status Details:

This account is scheduledto continue on record until Jun 2017.

This item was updated from our processing of your dispute in Aug 2012." The remaining accounts state that they are still under investigation. I believe he mailed the disputes on the 19th of July. I'm curious if we could still see the 2 "updated" fall off when EX finishes their investigation of the remaining accounts?

 

 

TransUnion= 5 Medical Collections DELETED (myfico 668)

 

Equifax=5 Medical Collections DELETED (myfico 607)

 

Experian=???

 

[Why Chat]

Great news today! I went to check on hubby's dispute status's and Equifax has removed all negative accounts! His EQ now has 2 positive accounts and 0 negative, FICO of 607. I'm guessing that's because he has less than 2 years of credit history with Cap 1 and only 1 month of credit history with our secured loan from our credit union. Hoping to see that score climb each month!

 

Bad news is that Experian is a pain. The updated 2 accounts to "Status Details:

This account is scheduledto continue on record until Jun 2017.

This item was updated from our processing of your dispute in Aug 2012." The remaining accounts state that they are still under investigation. I believe he mailed the disputes on the 19th of July. I'm curious if we could still see the 2 "updated" fall off when EX finishes their investigation of the remaining accounts?

 

 

TransUnion= 5 Medical Collections DELETED (myfico 668)

 

Equifax=5 Medical Collections DELETED (myfico 607)

 

Experian=???

Experian is ALWAYS a SOB when it comes to doing anything they are supposed to do.

 

Wait for their final response, if it isn't deleted file an FTC complaint against them

http://www.whychat.5u.com/hipaaftccomp.html

[EnC_Plus3]

Today I received a letter from Experian in the mail, it has no information really. It states that if I question the dispute process to contact the original creditor or the furnisher of information. It has no accounts listed, nor does it say verified/deleted...nothing. I checked online and of the original 9 only 7 are being investigated. Since the two that were verified were not reported on TU and EQ should I send the CA or OC anything at this point? I am only using a semi-educated guess that the next step would be http://whychat.5u.com/ltrcavalhipaa.html to the CA for the 2 that were apparently verified. Is this correct or should I wait for the final update that includes the remaining 7 accounts? Just fyi, the 2 that were verified & updated are the same CA, the other 7 are different CA's.

[Why Chat]

Today I received a letter from Experian in the mail, it has no information really. It states that if I question the dispute process to contact the original creditor or the furnisher of information. It has no accounts listed, nor does it say verified/deleted...nothing. I checked online and of the original 9 only 7 are being investigated. Since the two that were verified were not reported on TU and EQ should I send the CA or OC anything at this point? I am only using a semi-educated guess that the next step would be http://whychat.5u.com/ltrcavalhipaa.html to the CA for the 2 that were apparently verified. Is this correct or should I wait for the final update that includes the remaining 7 accounts? Just fyi, the 2 that were verified & updated are the same CA, the other 7 are different CA's.

Check the "back door" and see if those other accounts are deleted, or if ANY of the accounts are being reported as disputed.

 

Send the medical DV to ANY CA where you disputed with Ex even if they did not mention them in their response, ( after checking to see if they are still on your report)

 

http://whychat.5u.com/ltrcavalhipaa.html

[EnC_Plus3]

Just to be certain before I send these out, most of the accounts are still within SOL. They range mostly from 2009-2010. I'm prepared to pay them if there is a "valid debt owed" but I would certainly hate to get sued since they are within the SOL in California. Granted they are all small sums of less than $50 each. 2 are in the $60 range.

[EnC_Plus3]

Oh, this stuff is making me crazy.

 

I checked backdoor today on all 3 reports. Ex is still taking their time. EQ has 2 new accounts, these 2 were on TU (deleted) and EX (under investigation). I'm guessing that I should wait for the update and then send EQ the pre-hipaa on the 2 new accounts. Also, EQ had removed all the pre-hipaa's but now they are back. One says under investigation, the others say nothing new at all, not updated no consumer statement, as if they were never disputed.

 

I'm hoping this is just part of their process and once they complete the investigation they'll remove the 4 disputed accounts.

[EnC_Plus3]

Okay, so it looks like most of the accounts were verified with both EX and EQ, they initially disappeared from EQ but came back. 1 account was deleted from both. I'm preparing the medical DV's to send out but my question is, once I get back the green cards and send the follow up to EX and EQ do I send 1 letter each including each account as I did with the pre-hipaa or send one letter per CA? There are 3 CA's that we'll be DV'ing, 2 with EX and 2 with EQ. I understand that if I send additional information once a dispute is started it can add 15 days to the process, which I don't care about really, but I don't want to mess up the process by sending the "wrong" amount of letters. I'm assuming the green cards will come back within a few days of one another so waiting isn't a problem, again I don't want to mess up and give EX or EQ a reason to reject anything.

 

 

EX accounts verified

 

6 from USCB

 

2 from CBofU *

 

1 from CBoP* (This is only about a year old and I have the Letter to OC with insert A ready...just waiting for a letter to prove current relationship, pretty certain that will happen)

 

EQ accounts verified

 

2 from NCO*

 

2 from CBofU*

 

The ones with asterics were deleted off TU right away.

Edited August 11, 2012 by EnC_Plus3

[Why Chat]

Okay, so it looks like most of the accounts were verified with both EX and EQ, they initially disappeared from EQ but came back. 1 account was deleted from both. I'm preparing the medical DV's to send out but my question is, once I get back the green cards and send the follow up to EX and EQ do I send 1 letter each including each account as I did with the pre-hipaa or send one letter per CA? There are 3 CA's that we'll be DV'ing, 2 with EX and 2 with EQ. I understand that if I send additional information once a dispute is started it can add 15 days to the process, which I don't care about really, but I don't want to mess up the process by sending the "wrong" amount of letters. I'm assuming the green cards will come back within a few days of one another so waiting isn't a problem, again I don't want to mess up and give EX or EQ a reason to reject anything.

 

 

EX accounts verified

 

6 from USCB

 

2 from CBofU *

 

1 from CBoP* (This is only about a year old and I have the Letter to OC with insert A ready...just waiting for a letter to prove current relationship, pretty certain that will happen) Don't be so sure, if the reporting CA didn't IMMEDIATELY respond to you as soon as they got notice of the dispute, then they may have an invalid claim

 

EQ accounts verified

 

2 from NCO*

 

2 from CBofU*

 

The ones with asterics were deleted off TU right away.

You can send a single re-dispute letter to each CRA listing the accounts and enclosing a copy of each medical DV sent to the CAs and copies of the proof of delivery.

[EnC_Plus3]

Thanks WhyChat

 

I found an EOMB from one of these collections (545.00) that shows it was paid by our insurance. Will I handle this any different than the others or proceed as already planned?

[Why Chat]

Thanks WhyChat

 

I found an EOMB from one of these collections (545.00) that shows it was paid by our insurance. Will I handle this any different than the others or proceed as already planned?

Proceed as planned. For all you know perhaps ALL of these collections are invalid.

On the ones that were reinserted-- did you get a letter of deletion?? Or were they just temporarily disappeared?

[EnC_Plus3]

I believe they temporarily disappeared. I have received no "deletion" letters. The only update I have received so far is from TU, their letter does not say deleted it just says here is you updated report. Nothing from EX or EQ yet, the info I've shared is from "backdoor" viewing.

 

Proceeding as planned! Thanks again.