Ok, I have a paid med collection from 7/2005. Paid in full 6/2007 and reports as paid. I probably should have waited a while before starting the process, but I'd like to get this removed before trying to get a mortgage next spring. So far, I have sent the pre-HIPAA letter to the two reporting CRA's and they came back verifed. So I then followed the WhyChat procedures with the Paid DV letter to the CA (CMRE) and then the follow up letter to the CRA's with the green card. CMRE responded with an internal printout that basically shows the dates that the doctors group tried to send the claim to my old insurance company (which I no longer had at the time) and the dates they sent me statements. It also has the doctor's name on the bottom. I sent the DV because I never received a bill from the doctors group, the CA was the first I had heard of it but I was scared of it ruining my credit so I paid (I now know better). Does this validation suffice as it still doesn't prove to me that I ever owed the OC anything? Do I have any further recourse either way? I'm in Arkansas if it matters.

Thanks

bump

Would it be beneficial to wait six months and try again? How often can this process be applied to the same account?

What was your response from the 2 CRA's to the follow up dispute letter??

They both said previously verified.

OK so this account is reporting as "paid" on 2 CRA reports, you sent the medical dispute letter, it was verified, you sent the "paid "medical DV to the CA and the follow up dispute with the copy of the medical DV to the CRA's and they BOTH responded with previously verified.

File a complaint with the FTC against each CRA stating that you had properly disputed an unknown medical account on your report and that they verified without any investigation. State that you disputed the account to the reporting CA and sent a copy of your dispute with a 2nd dispute to the CRA and they responded with a "previously verified" again without any investigation or marking the account as in dispute.State that their actions are violations of the FCRA and FACTA. ( print out the dispute before hitting "enter")

Send a short letter to each CRA att: Compliance Dept. with a copy of the filed complaint. Include this phrase;
"I reserve the right to file additional complaints against you with (name of your State) authorities,and/or to take actions to revover the damages to my credit caused by your violations of the FCRA and FACTA."

Thanks for the advice. I'll update after I file the dispute.

Ok, I filed an FTC complaint against both CRA's as directed above. I then sent the complaint and a letter with the suggested wording to the compliance departments of each CRA. Both CRA's replied back "verified" and I never noticed any change of wording on my account regarding the investigation status. Should I just accept this and move on, or start sending a DV to the CA every day until they get tired of me? Any help on a possible next move would be appreciated.

Would it be ok to send a goodwill letter to the CEO or another high level exec? I know that it would be quasi admitting that the account is mine, however since they already have their money I would think they might be somewhat receptive to goodwill and it looks like the typical routes for removal aren't going to work. Does this negate any other future action that I could pursue?

bump

The problem is not directly with the OC, it is with the CRA's and the reporting CA.

However, you CAN send a "version" of the HIPAA letter to the OC and see if that does any good.

You can also send the same thing to the reporting CA as they MUST maintain their HIPAA compliance status and would not like to have a HIPAA complaint filed against them.

(Your Name)
(address)
(City,State, zip)
s.s.# (social security #)
HIPAA Compliance Office
( health care provider creditor)
(address)

HIPAA Compliance Office
CA
Address
(date)
To whom it may concern;

This letter is in reference to (account #) for services provided to (name of patient) on (date of service).
And being reported on my ( name(s) of CRA's) credit report as a "paid account" in violation of the HIPAA privacy rules and the medical privacy statutes of ( your State)

In regard to the original bill on this account in the amount of ($___):

This account was in error.
It has been paid, and was a billing error,as it was not transmitted in a timely manner to my insurance company.
It was not a valid bill and should never have been assigned to ( name of CA),it has been properly disputed, therefore I request complete deletion from all your agent (name of CA)'s records and archives.

Please be advised that under Federal Statutes. the Fair Credit Reporting Act, (15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq)and (name of your State)'s Consumer Credit Statutes, you may be held liable for the actions of (collection agency name). And ( name of CA) is in violation of the FCRA for failure to indicate that the account is in dispute as well as having their own liability under the HIPAA privacy statutes.


The Privacy Rules prohibits a covered entity from using or disclosing an individual's protected health information ("PHI") unless specifically authorized by the individual or otherwise allowed under the Privacy Rules.

In general, PHI encompasses substantially all "individually identifiable health information" that is transmitted or maintained in any medium. "Individually identifiable health information" includes health information that is created or received by a health care provider, health plan, employer, or health care clearinghouse, and that relates to an individual's physical or mental health or condition, including information related to an individual's care or the PAYMENT for such care. This EXCLUDES verifying the status and entry of an account that has been paid by reporting it as a "paid" account on my credit reports.

Your furnishing of my account information to (collection agency name), is not in compliance with HIPAA,or (name of your State}'s Privacy Act, and any subsequent reporting of this account on my credit reports to (credit reporting bureaus) is a clear violation of Public Law 104-191 ("HIPAA") since there can be no permissible business purpose in divulging protected health information to anyone on an account once there is no longer any payment due.

You and ( name of CA)are required under the FCRA and FACTA to accurately report the status of any account to the credit bureaus, and you are prohibited under the HIPAA and State privacy regulations from doing so on a PAID account, as there is no longer any permitted business purpose.

Therefore I am requesting you promptly rescind all such account information furnished to (collection agency) and require them to purge their records of all reference to this account, and that you insure that any and all reporting of this account is immediately deleted from my credit reports.

This simple procedure to request the deletion of ALL reference to this account from the records of ( collection agency name) and to require them to have this account information deleted in its entirety from my credit reports will resolve this problem completely.

Please respond, in writing within 10 days that you are processing this request.

I am reserving the right, to take appropriate legal and civil action including reporting to any applicable regulatory authorities any lack of cooperation or compliance with this request.

I hereby waive my rights under HIPAA and any State Privacy Act for the single purpose of your transmission of this request and accompanying documentation in any required report you must make to your E &O insurance carrier. This waiver is for ( name of OC) ONLY,
I have not waived any of my privacy rights nor provided any signed HIPAA waiver to ( name of CA).

Sincerely,

signature sign the one going to the OC, type or print the signature on the one going to the CA
(Your Name)

Just to clarify, I should send this letter to the OC first and then if that does not get action, send to the CA. Also, do you recommend sending this certified or CMRR? Thanks for all the help.

No, send them to BOTH, with BOTH PARTIES listed one after another in the heading. That way they BOTH know that you are charging them BOTH with HIPAA violations. CMRR on both.

P.S. PLEASE any readers do NOT consider this as an "ordinary" method to pursue. The circumstances are VERY unique to THIS poster as she has documentation of BOTH parties participating in an ongoing HIPAA violation.

Do I need to slightly alter the letter to the CA to be specific to them, ie instead of saying "you and CA are required" I would say "you, CA are required." Or should the letter to the CA be treated as a carbon copy simply to inform the CA of my actions? Sorry for all the questions, but as this is a lesser documented method I want to be sure it is executed properly.

Let me try again!!

This is not only a "lesser" documented method it is a "one of a kind" FIRST.

You do ONE LETTER with TWO COPIES send one copy to the OC ( signed) send the other copy to the CA ( unsigned).

In the heading you list BOTH addresses as I have indicated, that way the PRIMARY addressee is correctly identified as the primary subject, i.e."you" and "your" while the secondary addressee, the CA is noted as having their own liability.

This is a proper legal notification to BOTH informing BOTH of their mutual liabilities and their "cross-coverage" liability reflecting the results of their documented actions.

P.S. add this line to both:

CMRR # _________________________( next to the OC address)
CMRR# __________________________( next to the CA address)

Make a copy of each before you send it to prove that you have NOT signed the one to the CA.

THANK YOU for the time and advice. Letters are going out this afternoon.

Thank You WhyChat!!!!

The account is no longer reporting on any of my monitoring services, ordering paper copies of the reports today to confirm. Thank you again, WhyChat!