Early last year I had an ER visit, the medical bills for which I spent the past 12 months paying off a little at a time. I finally paid them off (so I thought), however I recently recieved another bill from the hospital for the entire amount again ($500)? It has a completely different patient number than the bills I already paid. This seems like a scam to me. I spent 2 hours on hold with the customer service line but had to hang up before I spoke to anyone.

I've been reading here a bit this morning and the recommendations are to NOT speak on the telephone? Should I mail the hospital and ask them for a breakdown of the amount of the bill? It doesn't specify what the amount is for. The letter says "despite our previous attempts to contact you", however this is the first letter I've received.

Thanks in advance for any help.

I don't think there would be anything wrong with contacting the healthcare provider to ask them questions and request and itemized bill. Explain that you already paid this. (Do you have proof of payment?)

Just know..........NEVER to call or have contact via phone with a CA.

Okay I tried calling the hospital, and they transferred me to Central Financial Control. Should I talk to them about it? I'm so lost.

Send a letter directly to the CEO of the hospital.

Also, Tenet changed their patient account numbers sometime last year. That is probably why their letter listed a different account number.

Write to the OC, ATTN: BILLING and request a full accounting of your balance. Tell them you want to know each date of service, what the individual charges are for, insurance payments of adjustments and payments you made. Writing the billing dept goes around the CA because billing will most likely pull up the account, print the info and mail it off.

I used this tactic myself w/ local hospital and have told relatives and friends how to request info the same way. Several of these have been for accts w/CA but each letter resulted in getting the info but no further contact from the CA.

Here's a good place to start:

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

Thanks for the great advice. I am going to write to the billing department and see if I can get some more information, and start from there. I will keep you guys posted.

Thanks again.