Collections - Anesthesia Bill from 2+ Years Ago

[A Credit Ed]

Received a letter yesterday from Business Revenue Systems Inc. telling me I owed $200+ to Guide Anesthesia.  I had two eye surgeries in 2024, that is the only time I could have ever needed the services of anesthesia.  I also believe I never received a bill for this.

 

What is the best way to handle this?  Is there a time limit for collecting?  It's been over 2 years since I had the surgeries.

 

Is there still the $500 or less rule where medical debt and collections doesn't show on credit reports? 

 

 

TIA! 

[Why Chat]

I doubt that this is a valid claim. However you can check with Guide to see if there was any left over billing. DO NOT respond to the CA as that would tell them that you are a "Live Sucker"

 

If you received an unexpected bill from Guide Anesthesia, it is typically for professional clinician services not fully covered or processed by your insurance. To resolve an unknown or surprise charge, verify your insurance Explanation of Benefits (EOB), confirm network protections under the No Surprises Act, and contact their billing support directly. 

[A Credit Ed]

Thanks Why Chat, I was hoping to see you here.  Since this was over two years ago, I have no idea where my EOBs are.  I will reach out to Guide Anesthesia today.  The CA's letter says if I do not respond by Sept 6 they will assume the information is correct, so I'm guessing I need to say something to them at somepoint?

[A Credit Ed]

Did more digging and it appears medical debt under $500 is not reported to credit agencies.

 

https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/medical-debt-and-your-credit-score/
https://newsroom.transunion.com/equifax-experian-and-transunion-remove-medical-collections-debt-under-500-from-us-credit-reports/

https://www.equifax.com/personal/education/credit/score/articles/-/learn/can-medical-debt-impact-credit-scores/
 

So now I'm thinking I don't need to worry about it at all.
 

[Why Chat]

Make sure you double check any link or phone number carefully. There is currently an epidemic of hacking going on in the internet.

[A Credit Ed]

I have reached out to Guide Anesthesia twice (by email) telling them I received correspondence from a collection agency.  I told Guide I do not show any record of their name or that $ amount in any EOBs, and requested clarification.  No response.

 

The letter from the CA says I must respond by 9/6, a little over two weeks from now.  Is it still recommended that I not respond?

[Why Chat]

If you haven't heard from Guide then you can be SURE it is a scam. DO NOT RESPOND

Business Revenue Systems (BRSI) is a third-party debt collection agency that faces frequent consumer complaints regarding aggressive communication and billing practices. Common issues include repetitive phone harassment, failure to properly validate medical or consumer debts, and unverified or inaccurate reporting on credit profiles. 

Edited August 20 by Why Chat

[A Credit Ed]

Thank you Why Chat.  I'm trying to wrap my mind around the disadvantages of writing a letter to BRSI disputing the debt and hope you are willing to educate me a little further.

My thought and reasoning: Once September 6 rolls around and I haven't replied, some switch at BRSI will get flipped, my case gets moved into an active collection status, and the phone calls and harassment will begin.  Isn't that how collection agencies work?

 

What if someone at Guide is seeing my email and takes the attitude of "We already sold this, I'm not going to bother responding" and just hits the delete button?

 

I'm not disagreeing with you, and since it's a medical debt under $500 there is no potential harm to my credit score I am going to follow your all caps DO NOT RESPOND advice, but will BRSI really just give up instead of accelerating once the Sept 6 deadline passes?

I did send one more email to Guide, this time copying every email address I could find on their website.

 

TIA!

[A Credit Ed]

Follow up - just got a call from Guide (not sure which of the 5 emails I sent it to took action) and a nice lady told me it was sent to collections in error (WTF?) and she would be having it removed from collections.  I wasn't thinking fast enough to ask her to send me that in writing by replying to my email.  Oh well, hopefully she keeps her word.

[Why Chat]

Congratulations-- although you didn't get the information on her response you DO have the ability to save the data as to her telephone # she called you from.

[A Credit Ed]

Received this email today:

 

Thank you for reaching out and please accept our sincere apologies for the delayed response regarding your account. No one was able to monitor this email since the previous team member left, but I am now here to assist and will make sure this is taken care of for you.

 

I have forwarded your inquiry to our billing department to carefully investigate this collections notice and locate the details for the 2024 service and corresponding EOB.

 

They will take a close look at this balance and follow up with you as soon as possible.

 

Thank you for your patience and for bringing this to our attention.

[A Credit Ed]

Haven't heard back from the email I received Tuesday, so I wrote back today asking for verification that they had pulled it back from Business Revenue Systems.

[Why Chat]

Don't be surprised if you receive no answer-- I believe that many of those functions are being handled by AI and if your response doesn't "fit" into the parameters it will get lost in the system.