Hypothetically speaking, what would be possible next steps if the following occurred:
1. Opted out, removed addresses
2. Triaged report
3. Prehipaa letter sent to CRAs (No contact with CA)
4. HIPAA letter sent to compliance officer at hospital with cashier's check (for actual amount owed,which is different from what is reporting), CMRR.
5. Green card is returned in the mail with signature.
6. Cashier's check never cashed.
7. CrA continues reporting account, only difference is now "account disputed"

What kind of followup do folks recommend? It's been a couple of months at this point.

Was the cashiers check returned to you?? Do you have the green card from the transmittal of the HIPAA letter and cashiers check??

Do you have ANY response from the hospital??

How are you checking to see if the check has been deposited??

IN GENERAL-- If you have proof of the hospital having received the check, and it has been over 2 Months since they received it, and you have had NO word from them, then give the hospital a call, ask to speak to the person in charge of hospital security. Tell them you sent a cashiers check on xx/xx/xxxx CMRR and that it was signed for on xx/xx/xxxx but it has not yet been deposited and you are concerned that it might have been lost or improperly diverted . If they tell you to speak to the CA, tell them that you are under advice to have all communication in writing and that they can send you a letter of explanation as to why they are refusing a cash payment.

Okay. So no, no communication from the hospital. Check was not returned, but green card was returned, indicating that it was, in fact, delivered. I've called the bank several times to check whether check was deposited, and it has not been.

Thanks for the advice. I'll give them a shout today.

Note:

In some hospitals, HIPAA compliance officers work in a dept. called:

Quality Management/Regulatory Compliance aka QMRC

Within that dept. there will be a Risk Management person
dedicated to reviewing the hospital's exposure to HIPAA
violations. This person will typically review the situation and
make a recommendation to the higher ups as to how best to
proceed to limit the hospital's liability and costs.

In small instances (ie. this type of thing) the Risk Mgr will
likely be empowered to make the call themselves and simply
contact the business office to contact the CA to have it removed.

Make sure you follow WhyChat's steps EXACTLY.