topic Re: HELP! HIPAA letter to OC returned by CA-will not accept in Recovering from Medical Debt

HELP! HIPAA letter to OC returned by CA-will not accept

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 22:23:28 GMT

After following all parts of the HIPAA process, we sent out the letter with payment to the OC. Today I received a letter back from the CA stating:

"Your recent check for the above referenced account was tendered with conditions that are unacceptable.

The conditions you imposed prevent us from accepting this check, and it is for this reason that this check is being returned to you. Should you have any questions regarding this matter, please contact your account manager..."

Enclosed was our initial letter and our certified check for full payment on the account. I have no idea what to do next?? Why did the OC send this to the CA? Does anyone have any experience with this and if so, any advice is greatly appreciated.

Re: HELP! HIPAA letter to OC returned by CA-will not accept

fused — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 22:29:57 GMT

Before I can offer you some advice, I need to know if you followed these steps in the correct order before you sent the HIPAA letter to the OC.

Step #1: You must Opt Out of two things: Your Credit Reports and All Creditors. The first one ensures that the CRAs will not sell your personal data to anyone else (haha…no more data mining). The second one will prevent JDBs (and CAs) from buying and selling bogus collections.

Use this link to opt-out of your credit reports

OPT-OUT CREDIT REPORTS (or call 1.888.567.8688)

Use this link to opt-out from all of your CURRENT creditors that you're in GOOD standing with. Do not attempt to opt-out with any CAs or current creditors that you're in BAD standing with (i.e. charge-offs, or currently late).

OPT-OUT ALL CREDITORS

Step #2: Also, be sure to update your personal information with the CRA's before attempting to reestablish your credit.

Step #3: Send the pre-HIPAA dispute letter to the CRA ('s) CM (no RR, this is the only letter in the HIPAA process where you will not send it CMRRR) and wait up to 35 days for the results of the their investigation(s). Be sure to handwrite this letter and use personalized stationary. If your med collection is deleted, you're finished.

PRE-HIPAA MEDICAL DISPUTE LETTER

Re: HELP! HIPAA letter to OC returned by CA-will not accept

Anonymous — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 01:09:11 GMT

Yes we followed exactly as it is outlined.

Re: HELP! HIPAA letter to OC returned by CA-will not accept

fused — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 01:44:23 GMT

The OC should have cashed the check, but the CA is still entitled to their commission. This can happen sometimes. Well, one thing is for sure, you cannot file a HIPAA complaint if the med collection is not paid. After the CRAs received your pre-HIPAA dispute letter, did the CA send you validation of the debt? Or, has the CA ever sent validation of the debt? The HIPAA letter to the OC is to be used when the CRA verifies your collection and the CA validates your med debt.

Switching gears here, is the med collection marked as "disputed and verified" on your credit reports?

Re: HELP! HIPAA letter to OC returned by CA-will not accept

Anonymous — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 02:15:07 GMT

Yes we did get validation from the CA. No, there is no change on our reports-it does not say "disputed and verified."

Re: HELP! HIPAA letter to OC returned by CA-will not accept

fused — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 02:32:14 GMT

When you dispute a collection on your credit report, the CRA is supposed to indicate that on your report. Now we don't even have proof that the CRA properly investigated, or if they investigated at all. Which CRA are we talking about?

Re: HELP! HIPAA letter to OC returned by CA-will not accept

Anonymous — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 02:40:07 GMT

None of them show as disputed and verified

Re: HELP! HIPAA letter to OC returned by CA-will not accept

fused — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 02:44:25 GMT

Which CRA(s)?

Re: HELP! HIPAA letter to OC returned by CA-will not accept

Anonymous — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 02:48:05 GMT

Nothing on my reports has changed on any of the 3. We did get the DV from the CA tho.

Re: HELP! HIPAA letter to OC returned by CA-will not accept

fused — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 03:05:16 GMT

Well, it appears you have been following HIPAA letter process correctly. You will have to get the OC to cash the check, otherwise your stuck. If the unpaid collection was proven to be bogus, you could file a HIPAA complaint against the OC, but that doesn't apply in your situation. Also, since the CA validated, you're not in a position to change gears and focus your attack against the CRAs by filing a complaint against them with the FTC. This is another effective way to get collections deleted if you can prove your case. Is there a difference between what the OC says you owe and what the CA says you owe?

Re: HELP! HIPAA letter to OC returned by CA-will not accept

Anonymous — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 03:19:33 GMT

Nope, they are exact. This is just strange to me. We mailed these to the OC on Saturday, on Monday I got the green card back and today a letter from the CA. Doesn't that just seem super quick for the OC to forward to the CA?

Would something like this be effective? Send a letter back to the OC and state that we sent payments in full to satisfy the debt and exercised our rights under HIPAA to have all information delete with the CA. Can I ask if they are refusing to allow us to execise our rights under HIPAA? Are they refusing to accept payment for the debt? Can I put this back in their court? I would think they would have a duty to deal with me since they are the OC.

Re: HELP! HIPAA letter to OC returned by CA-will not accept

fused — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 03:27:53 GMT

"Send a letter back to the OC and state that we sent payments in full to satisfy the debt and exercised our rights under HIPAA to have all information delete with the CA. Can I ask if they are refusing to allow us to execise our rights under HIPAA?"

This is a good question, but I'm not entirely sure I can answer it. It will require me to dig deeper into HIPAA's Privacy Acts. In the meantime, send the HIPAA letter and payment until they cashed it. Its better for you if the OC cashes it, but on the OC/CA's end, it shouldn't matter who cashes it.The OC and CA are really being stupid. I should know I have been working in healthcare forever.

Re: HELP! HIPAA letter to OC returned by CA-will not accept

Anonymous — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 03:32:13 GMT

Thanks Fused! I will sent out the letters again tomorrow and see where it goes.

If you happen to find out any other information, please let us know.

Thanks again!

Re: HELP! HIPAA letter to OC returned by CA-will not accept

fused — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 03:40:22 GMT

We'll do.

Re: HELP! HIPAA letter to OC returned by CA-will not accept

Anonymous — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:25:02 GMT

Just as a side note, even if you do pay the CA, once the debt is listed as paid in full, the CA no longer has a business purpose to have your personal health information, and as such should not be able to verify the account to the CRAs.

Isn't this so fused?

I believe the advantage to paying the OC is that they tend to be more reasonable about accepting payment in full for the amount on the bill, whereas CAs are both impossible to deal with, and will insist on taking their pound of flesh.

Is it possible the OC wouldn't take the payment because they sold the debt? I had a hospital tell me they would simply forward any check I sent them to the CAs. That was before I found this forum, and I just prefer to pay an original creditor. However, the HIPAA process made those accounts disappear very quickly anyway.

Re: HELP! HIPAA letter to OC returned by CA-will not accept

CreditGuy03 — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:44:06 GMT

Whats the update on this?

I may have this same issue as the OC has told me to pay the CA once before I knew about the Hipaa process

Re: HELP! HIPAA letter to OC returned by CA-will not accept

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:22:02 GMT

Yes I'm curious too, I had to pay the OC via the CA, but with the OCs name as payee, so what if they get their # of flesh, it wasn't their fault it went to collections. They gotta eat. When I pay mine I plan to pay the interest, knowing they will refuse it anyway. let the doc give them their cut

Re: HELP! HIPAA letter to OC returned by CA-will not accept

fused — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 21:15:56 GMT

likewise wrote:

Just as a side note, even if you do pay the CA, once the debt is listed as paid in full, the CA no longer has a business purpose to have your personal health information, and as such should not be able to verify the account to the CRAs. Essentially, Yes! The problem is with verification process itself. Its a joke! As far as I'm concerned, most disputes, rather they be for med collections or non-med collections, are not properly investigated.

Isn't this so fused?

I believe the advantage to paying the OC is that they tend to be more reasonable about accepting payment in full for the amount on the bill, whereas CAs are both impossible to deal with, and will insist on taking their pound of flesh.

Is it possible the OC wouldn't take the payment because they sold the debt? Yes, but med debt is not always sold. In fact, if its sold, its probably and old debt. Many times hospital employees and employees of doctor's offices say they can't help you, call the CA, we sold the debt to them. What they don't realize is that the debt may very well have been assigned to the CA and not sold to them.

I had a hospital tell me they would simply forward any check I sent them to the CAs. That was before I found this forum, and I just prefer to pay an original creditor. However, the HIPAA process made those accounts disappear very quickly anyway. Yes, I remember your success, feels great doesn't it.

Re: HELP! HIPAA letter to OC returned by CA-will not accept

Anonymous — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 02:11:39 GMT

Here is the second letter we sent:

Dir Sir/Madam:

On March 21, 2009 I sent a letter to your HIPAA Compliance Office with payment in full for account number XXXXX for services provided to XXXXXX. This letter outlined my rights under the Federal Statutes, the Fair Credit Reporting Act and Wisconsin’s Consumer Credit Statutes. On March 26, 2009 I received a response from Alliance Collection Agency, Inc. with a refusal to accept payment on the account because the terms listed were unacceptable.

My original letter to you specifically stated that the cashier’s check was payable only to you and was not to be signed over to a third party collection agency (Alliance Collection Agency, Inc.).

I have the right to pay for this account in full to Marshfield Clinic.

I have the right to request that you stop furnishing my protected health information to any third party collection agency (Alliance Collection Agency, Inc.) once this account is paid in full since there is no longer a need for a business relationship between Marshfield Clinic and Alliance Collection Agency, Inc. on my behalf.

I am enclosing my original letter and cashier’s check payable to Marshfield Clinic only.

This is my SECOND attempt to pay this debt in its entirety. I will again reserve the right to take appropriate legal and civil action including reporting to any applicable regulatory authorities any lack of cooperation or compliance with this request.

We received the green RR card back on April 18th, but no response from the OC yet. I was thinking it was time to see what the next move would be.

Re: HELP! HIPAA letter to OC returned by CA-will not accept

fused — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 03:34:21 GMT

Yikes!!!!!