I have an insurance scenario as well. I received treatment in June 08. Insurance covered mostly everything. I waited and got a bunch of bills from different cogs in the system. I paid all but one for $700 by October 08. The statement from my healthcare provider didn't match up with the bills and I thought it had been paid already.

To make a long story short, the OC put the $700 into collections with Focus Financial. I disputed it with the 3 bureaus online, and all 3 said it was verified by the CA.

I hope I didn't screw myself here, I sent the collection agency an offer to settle the debt even though I believed it had been paid already. They only responded by mailing me a copy of the original bill from the OC dated February 09, and a week later a "final notice" to pay or they would investigate my ability to pay.

Today I called the OC to sort out if I actually owed this bill, in hindsight this would have been smarter a while back. I did find out that one of the divisions of the hospital owes me $200 for overpayment, but the $700 was legit from the emergency room, however, it had finally been paid by my insurance company in June 09, a day after they finally billed them.

So the bill is paid but I have had contact with the collection agency. Can I use the Hipaa method based upon this info?

Please help!