What next?

[john1616]

Hi Whychat. Followed all the steps. After receiving verification and matching to my EOMB's I paid the OC with the insert A letter. I hand printed that the bank check was payable only to the OC. Received a letter from the CA stating that they were in receipt of payment and that the CA was payed in full and the CRA's would be notified accordingly. I have not had confirmation yet that the bank check was cashed so have not sent any addl letters to CRA or OC.

 

Funny thing is that the date of the letter from the CA is the same day as the OC received the certified mail with the check....

 

Does the OC forwarding the $$$ to the CA change my next steps?

 

Thank you for all of this knowledge and assistance. It is appreciated greatly.

 

 

[Why Chat]

The OC MAY have notified the CA( electronically) that payment was made, however unless and until you receive notice that the money order was deposited, you do not know if the CA actually received funds or not. Sometimes the check will bounce around for a Month or more before it is deposited.

 

Wait and see what happens.

[john1616]

Ok - I actually reached the point where I sent three different bank checks to OC's w/insert a. Verified that all were cashed. All were made payable to OC with the 'for deposit to the account of....only" written in the endorsement section. All matched EOMB's and were validated. I will try to recap who it went to and what has happened so far:

 

1. Continental Credit Control - rcvd green card back and verified that check was cashed 7/16. Rcvd letter from Dr. Office advising they were mad that I did what I did and admitting that they cashed it but that they would split the $$$ with CA and in the letter said they refuse to have the CA delete anything from CRA. Equifax is where this one is reporting and it has been updated to a paid collection with a July date...Prior to seeing the Collection account updated and getting the letter from Dr. , I did send the follow-up letters to the OC and the CRA. Nothing back as of yet. Back door does not show a current dispute on EQ.

 

2. California Business Bureau. Green card back 7/24. Check cashed 7/24 by OC. This is actually two separate collections from the same OC for two separate amounts/procedures - Check was for both. Both collections report to EQ/EX. Both were updated to paid collections this week.

 

3. California Business Bureau. Green card back 7/24. Check cashed 7/24 by OC. This is from the same hospital stay as #2 but a different OC. Both collections report to EQ/EX. Both still show as unpaid.

 

Just checking on next steps. I assume I will still send the CRA and OC follow-ups for #2/3 but not sure what to do with #1.

 

Thank You Whychat....

[john1616]

Update on #'s 2/3. The second dispute being done by Equifax was still ongoing when I sent in the payment with Insert A. Check was cashed on 7/24 and I did recieve a completed dispute from EQ dated 7/29 where the verified all three accounts as belonging to me.

[Why Chat]

Ok - I actually reached the point where I sent three different bank checks to OC's w/insert a. Verified that all were cashed. All were made payable to OC with the 'for deposit to the account of....only" written in the endorsement section. All matched EOMB's and were validated. I will try to recap who it went to and what has happened so far:

 

1. Continental Credit Control - rcvd green card back and verified that check was cashed 7/16. Rcvd letter from Dr. Office advising they were mad that I did what I did and admitting that they cashed it but that they would split the $$$ with CA and in the letter said they refuse to have the CA delete anything from CRA. Equifax is where this one is reporting and it has been updated to a paid collection with a July date...Prior to seeing the Collection account updated and getting the letter from Dr. , I did send the follow-up letters to the OC and the CRA. Nothing back as of yet. Back door does not show a current dispute on EQ. Keep all the correspondence. If you need to pursue the situation their letter is a CLEAR violation of the HIPAA privacy rules, PLUS they can be held accountable for the actions of their agent the CA if the account is changed to a "paid" collection

 

2. California Business Bureau. Green card back 7/24. Check cashed 7/24 by OC. This is actually two separate collections from the same OC for two separate amounts/procedures - Check was for both. Both collections report to EQ/EX. Both were updated to paid collections this week.

 

3. California Business Bureau. Green card back 7/24. Check cashed 7/24 by OC. This is from the same hospital stay as #2 but a different OC. Both collections report to EQ/EX. Both still show as unpaid.

 

Just checking on next steps. I assume I will still send the CRA and OC follow-ups for #2/3 but not sure what to do with #1. Yes, wait and see how your report changes on "#1" if it is changed to a paid account then do the follow up letters there also, except you will be adding language to the letters in that case to reflect the liability of that OC for their actions and inform them that you will be using their letter to you as part of all filed complaints

 

Thank You Whychat....

[john1616]

Update. Items 2/3 are deleted from both EQ and EX - - - THANKS WHYCHAT!!!

 

#1 - Sent the follow-up letter - made the mistake of sending it CM only. USPS never updated as rcvd. Resent CMRR and they are not accepting it. However, they did receive the CM one as I got a reply letter today. Letter reiterates what they said in the first letter and they state that they did not share any private health info with the CA other than amount due. They are stating that they have reviewed their privacy contract with their vendor and he has down stream protection??? He goes on to state, "Therefore, I am asking you to simply pay your account as due to the credit agency and to please cease your rather intimidating letters that are alleging some error on our part, when the fault for all this lies with you". The letter continues to state that while I say in my letter that the account no longer has any permitted business purpose, he says it does since I have not paid the collection agency fees.

 

Remember, the bank check was cashed by the OC on 7/16. I did sent the followup to EQ and they reinvestigated. I received correspondence from EQ dated 7/31 that they verified that the account does belong to me. This was based on the followup letter I sent after the OC cashed the check.

 

The CA did update to paid for less than the full amount.

 

I have also sent the HIPAA complaint courtesy letter to him CMRR but I am betting that I will get that back as well.

 

Do I go ahead and file the OCR complaint? Thanks again for the help WHYCHAT...

[Why Chat]

Send them( the OC) the courtesy letter:

http://whychat.5u.com/hipaaleg.html#courtesy

 

Include this sentence:

 

Your letter of x/x/xxx disavowing compliance with the HIPAA privacy rules and maintaining that you have an ongoing business relationship with the CA because the charges the CA added for collection services were not paid will be included in the complaint.

 

http://whychat.5u.com/hipaaleg.html#complaint

 

If they do not respond, file the complaint with the OCR

 

 

Use the correspondence you received ( listed only) as proof that the OC violated the HIPAA privacy rules by communicating private medical data to the CA after having been paid in full. State that the correspondence from the OC claims that the CA charges and interest are part of the original obligation and exempts them from the HIPAA rules that state that there can be no business purpose once an account is paid in full.

 

Send a copy of your filed complaint to the OC