West Asset Management and HCA Healthcare Confusion

[andibogard]

I had a medical bill with that was being collected by West Asset Management. Reading the forum I decided my first move would be to talk to the hospital and see if they would pull it back from collections. After being told no way and speaking with a very rude woman on the phone ( she refused to give me her supervisor's extension or name), I decided to harness the power of the written word send a message via the hospitals' "contact us" link. This is the reply i received back

"After reviewing your account, It has been determined that we cannot pull it from collection. You can set a payment plan with west asset management, the collection agency that it’s placed with. However I would like to offer you a settlement that will pull your account from the collection agency. If you accept, I can submit a settlement on your behalf to the CFO of the business office, to allow you to have a 50% discount. If you accept, and the CFO approves it, you will be expected to pay the settlement in full at once."

Because of the way she used the term "pull your account" while referring to what I asked them to do and to what I would get in return for PIF,I understood the response to mean they weren't interested in pulling the account from collections in order for me to make payments for the next few years, but If I was willing to PIF they would do so. Once the offer was approved, I called in to make my payment. Before I bit the bullet I tried to confirm with the woman on the other end that my account would be pulled from the collections company. I was then told that they would only be pulling it by letting them know I paid and that It would still report on my CR. Due to me allready being paranoid about who my payment would be made out to if I had done it over the phone and thinking I would just complete the HIPAA process, I went to the hospital and made a payment in person so I would have a reciept showing I paid the hospital and not the the CA. But now, as I read the inital settlement offer email, I feel regardless of what they meant or didn't mean to say that email says reads exactly like a PFD. Do I have a leg to stand on as far as getting them to remove this based on the email? Or should I just take my chances and complete the HIPAA process.