I sent full payment and the HIPAA letter to the dentist and they returned the payment and stated that there was no HIPAA violations committed by turning it over to collections. They said I would have to settle the debt with the Collection Agency.

Your ONLY post on this subject was this;
http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?s...p;#entry3803531

Where you asked if dental was covered by HIPAA, you apparently didn't bother to read to find out what the HIPAA process you should follow was!! You sent a payment to the dentist without ever establishing that the CA reporting had any right to report. Your payment that was returned, ( and I don't know if you used the HIPAA letter insert "a") was obviously a waste of time.

You should opt out
http://whychat.5u.com/OPTOUTINST.HTML
Delete old addresses if possible

Send any CRA where the account is reporting the initial dispute letter ( following ALL the directions)
http://whychat.5u.com/hipaadisp.html
If the account is NOT deleted, and the reporting CA does NOT send you a complete response with the date of service and name of the patient and the OC, then you send the CA the medical DV
http://whychat.5u.com/ltrcavalhipaa.html

Report back ON THIS THREAD with your results

What was your date of service??

As far as I can see I followed all the steps. Here was their response:

Information on the Account was submitted to (CA) in accordance with HIPAA regultions which recognize debt collection and the service of collection agencies as a paymnet activity Only the minimum neccessay information was disclosed for purposes of debt collection. On January`6, 2005 you signed an acknowlegement of receipt of the OC's Notice of Privavy Practices. Under the section on treatment, the Notice of Privavy Practices states "we may use and disclose your health information to obtain payment for services we provide you."

Your case has been reviewed by our legal department and HIPAA Privacy Officer and they are in agreement that we have acted within the bounds and are in compliance with all the rules and regulations guarding patient privacy and reporting for collection purposes.

Have you done this?

You should opt out
http://whychat.5u.com/OPTOUTINST.HTML
Delete old addresses if possible

Send any CRA where the account is reporting the initial dispute letter ( following ALL the directions)
http://whychat.5u.com/hipaadisp.html

I opted out before I sent the letter, I will follow the instrucions on this link http://whychat.5u.com/hipaadisp.html

Thank You

What was the response from the CRAs http://whychat.5u.com/hipaadisp.html when you sent them this?