topic Re: HIPAA DIDN'T WORK FOR ME!!!! PLEASE HELP in Recovering from Medical Debt

HIPAA DIDN'T WORK FOR ME!!!! PLEASE HELP

tryin_to_make_it — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:59:07 GMT

guys here's my scenario:

Central Financial Control reported a medical collection for $144 back in Oct 2003. I paid the collection to CFC in Jan 2008, before i knew anything about HIPAA. About a couple a weeks ago i found out about the HIPAA Process, so i tried it. I knew the debt was mine so i did not do a DV to the CRA. I did however send an HIPAA letter to the OC (Piedmont Medical Center Privacy Office) asking them to have CFC remove the account from my credit reports since I paid it off. Insted of getting a response from the OC i got a letter from CFC which reads:

"In response to your correspondence sent requesting that the aboved mentioned account be removed from your credit report. The conditions of services (COS) you were provided upon admission to the facility gave the facility permission to transfer your account to CFC.

The COS outlines your financial responsibilities for services rendered by out client. The COS is the contract between our clinet and yourself where you agreed to accept financial repsonisbility for any charges incurred resulting from medical services rendered.

Per your primary insurance carrier presented at the time of service Insurance Company A, $144 was determined to be your responsibility as your co-insurance and co-payment.

After researching your reqest to remove the negative enrty from your credit profile, our office finds that removal is not warranted as payment was made on Jan 23, 2008 after the account was reported. Your payment of $144 has been received. At this time there is no outstanding balance on this account. "

I am going to respond to this letter asking the OC to send me a copy of this so-called COS agreement i signed during my admission to the hospital. Is there anything else i can do? What do i do if the OC doesn't send me a copy of that COS agreement?

PLEASE HELP!! GUYS IM NEW AT THIS SO PLEASE BE DETAILED. THANKS IN ADVANCE!!!

Re: HIPAA DIDN'T WORK FOR ME!!!! PLEASE HELP

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:04:04 GMT

The HIPAA must be done in the proper order!!! Did you send the PRE_HIPAA dispute to the CRAs reporting?

Re: HIPAA DIDN'T WORK FOR ME!!!! PLEASE HELP

tryin_to_make_it — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:07:32 GMT

No I did not sent the Pre HIPAA letter to the CRA because i knew the debt belonged to me. I was just hoping to have it deleted on the bases that it was paid in full.

Re: HIPAA DIDN'T WORK FOR ME!!!! PLEASE HELP

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:24:08 GMT

The HIPAA process must be done in the correct order. If you skip a step HIPAA might ignore your complaint. HIPAA set the process and are strict about it. They want a complete paper trail!!

The color paper and type is important when mailing any HIPAA dispute to the CRAs!!! CRAs scann all disputes and you do not want that. If you do not have the correct color paper you might try handwriting everything. I am only guessing that they can not scan handwriting.

The process can be very confusing. If you have any questions just yell!

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=rebuildingcredit&thread.id=27537

Re: HIPAA DIDN'T WORK FOR ME!!!! PLEASE HELP

203bravo — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:41:53 GMT

Happydays -

thank you for explaining the reason for the colored paper and type face. I was wondering what the reason behind it was.

Re: HIPAA DIDN'T WORK FOR ME!!!! PLEASE HELP

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:51:15 GMT

Your more then welcome but it was fused that found that info.

Re: HIPAA DIDN'T WORK FOR ME!!!! PLEASE HELP

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:33:25 GMT

Not surprised. Didn't work for me either. I sent the "pre" letters and all that happened was the bureaus verfied and re-aged the accounts. All this business about colored paper and such seems nonsense to me.

Re: HIPAA DIDN'T WORK FOR ME!!!! PLEASE HELP

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:49:23 GMT

Ryan, the CRAs always scann everything. Then their PC contacts the the PC who you are disputing. When it comes to medical collections....the law states that the CRA must contact the OC (not the CA reporting) It has to be manually read in order for this to happen!

You do what you can to keep it from being scanned!

When an account is updated after a dispute....this is not reaging!

Re: HIPAA DIDN'T WORK FOR ME!!!! PLEASE HELP

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 23:41:44 GMT

HappyDays it would be great if the information you just provided was added to Fused's Pre-HIPPA letter template post.

It is not really clear to readers exactly why they need to hand address the envelope, use personalized stationary and a colored, italicized font as instructed in the post. This is very helpful information.

I almost skipped this step in the HIPPA process for similar reasons as the OP did. Luckily you moderators set me straight in time and I hand wrote every letter in cursive with purple ink onto shamrock green paper. My cursive is so poor it looks like a 90 year old woman wrote the letters!!! LOL

Re: HIPAA DIDN'T WORK FOR ME!!!! PLEASE HELP

Anonymous — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:26:39 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Not surprised. Didn't work for me either. I sent the "pre" letters and all that happened was the bureaus verfied and re-aged the accounts. All this business about colored paper and such seems nonsense to me.

In October I had 5 medical collection accounts and followed the process exactly as HappyDays says. 3 of the paid medical collections were DELETED by both TU & EX. I had one of the CAs send the proper validation for an unpaid collection and one just verified with the CRA and updated the collection from unpaid to paid. Now I am down to just the 2 and with FUSED's sticky thread and HappyDays guidance, I am onto the next step and feel confidant of success.

Nonsense? I don't think so! 40 days ago, I believed that I had to live with them for 6 more years.

Re: HIPAA DIDN'T WORK FOR ME!!!! PLEASE HELP

tryin_to_make_it — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:36:19 GMT

HappyDays I began the process with the HIPAA letters to the OC. I did not do the Pre HIPAA letter because it states that I have no knowledge of the account which isn't true. I am fully aware the account belongs to me. Should i do this step anyway? Do the CRAs take that statement literaly or do they just use these letters to begin the dispute process? If so, would it be a good idea to try this process over for this same collection? Or am I screwed now? i also forgot to mention that i did send the follow up letters to the CRAs once i got the green cards from the HIPAA letters that i sent to the OC. If i am able to start this process over for this collection do i need to wait for the CRAs to respond or resolve my follow up letters to them? or can i just start now with the Pre-HIPAA letter?

Re: HIPAA DIDN'T WORK FOR ME!!!! PLEASE HELP

Anonymous — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:29:49 GMT

whatever happened with this?...those were some of the same questions I currently have...did anyone answer?

Re: HIPAA DIDN'T WORK FOR ME!!!! PLEASE HELP

fused — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 02:26:00 GMT

Ryan2151 wrote:
Not surprised. Didn't work for me either. I sent the "pre" letters and all that happened was the bureaus verfied and re-aged the accounts. All this business about colored paper and such seems nonsense to me.

If you stick with it, you'll succeed. And its not nonsense. Its worked for me when I helped friends and family. Also, you're confusing re-aging with "updating".

Message Edited by fused on 04-25-2009 04:26 PM

Re: HIPAA DIDN'T WORK FOR ME!!!! PLEASE HELP

fused — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 21:06:32 GMT

It doesn't matter what you and I know, the CA must prove they have a business purpose to your private health information, and the CA must be reporting a valid collection. The pre-HIPAA medical dispute letter is the beginning point to finding the answers to these questions.

Let me reiterate, after you opt-out and update your address on your credit reports, the HIPAA letter process ALWAYS begins by sending the pre-HIPAA dispute letter to the CRAs CM. Writing the HIPAA letter to the OC and failing to get a delete doesn't mean the HIPAA letter process didn't work.

Re: HIPAA DIDN'T WORK FOR ME!!!! PLEASE HELP

Anonymous — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 22:28:45 GMT

I've had the following success since Aug 08

So far, since August, 2008, I've had the following deleted from my credit reports via the HIPAA method:

Nasty CA Attorney for hospital $50 paid

CA for hospital $1678 unpaid

CA for hospital $385 paid

CA for hospital $115 paid

CA for hospital $330 unpaid

CA for hospital $759 unpaid

DH has had the following removed, the medical ones by HIPAA:

NCO FIN/35 ambulance $627 unpaid

NCO Fin/33 hospital $1650 unpaid

DH has two more to go...

It's not always easy... some of them are, but some have been a bear. But it's worth the money it saves.

Message Edited by likewise on 04-25-2009 06:28 PM

Re: HIPAA DIDN'T WORK FOR ME!!!! PLEASE HELP

Anonymous — Mon, 04 May 2009 08:02:18 GMT

How did you get some of the CAs to remove the negatives/collections using the HIPPA method if they were unpaid?

Re: HIPAA DIDN'T WORK FOR ME!!!! PLEASE HELP

fused — Mon, 04 May 2009 19:39:01 GMT

Perhaps they were invalid unpaid med collections. Just as paid med collections must not report, same goes for invalid unpaid med collections.

Re: HIPAA DIDN'T WORK FOR ME!!!! PLEASE HELP

Anonymous — Tue, 05 May 2009 01:38:51 GMT

What are some examples of "invalid unpaid med collections" (other than not mine)?

I posted in another thread that I had thought my insurance carrier was responsible for paying a bill and now, I find out that that might not be true. Would that be an example of a "invalid unpaid medical collections"?

Re: HIPAA DIDN'T WORK FOR ME!!!! PLEASE HELP

fused — Tue, 05 May 2009 04:36:38 GMT

A CA or JDB (junk debt buyers buy debt for pennies on the dollar from other CAs) who bought a debt and is reporting an unpaid hospital that is old and refuses to validate it. There are examples, but this one quite common.