DV response....

[CotJockey]

Hello all,

I sent in a dv letter to a ca about a medical collection I have. The response I received back was a photocopy statement of my visit. It did have the balance on it, but, it also had my diagnosis, treatment, and prescriptions on it!!!  My question is should the CA have access to my diagnosis, all treatments, prescriptions and everything else involved in my Dr. visit? Why didn't the Dr office just give them the dates of service and the outstanding balance? Would this be a Hipaa violation? Thanks in advance for your time.

[fused]

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CotJockey wrote:

Hello all,

I sent in a dv letter to a ca about a medical collection I have. The response I received back was a photocopy statement of my visit. It did have the balance on it, but, it also had my diagnosis, treatment, and prescriptions on it!!!  My question is should the CA have access to my diagnosis, all treatments, prescriptions and everything else involved in my Dr. visit? Why didn't the Dr office just give them the dates of service and the outstanding balance? Would this be a Hipaa violation? Thanks in advance for your time.

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These are MAJOR violations. It's obvious that the OC is clueless on the disclosure laws involving medical records. If your proof is half as good as it sounds, winning in court is a real possibility. An easy deletion from your CRs too. At the very least I would suspect a lowball offer on a PFD will get this removed, if this is what is most important to you. If your privacy being violated concerns you more, contact a lawyer and see what legal options are available to you. Maybe you can get some free talk time over the phone with one. GL and please let us know what you decide and your outcome.

[Anonymous]

that is privacy violation and will hold up in a court of law and make sure you go after the doctor who give it to them

Start your research with the HIPPA Privacy Act.

[Anonymous]

I dv'd a Med-CA and got back the parperwork including why I was being treated.  I am using that to leverage the OC for a PFD.

[fused]

I work for a surgical practice and this is a no-no! What is normally furnished to the CA is a copy of a patient statement (bill) which does not show a diagnosis code or diagnosis description, the patient's personal info (legal name, DOB, SS#, add, phone#, etc.), date of service, and the patient's signed "sign-in sheet" which clealry spells out their responsibilty for outstanding balances.

Never is any healthcare information disclosed without proper authorization. The incidents posted in this thread are clear HIPAA violations. Who on earth is going to authorize a physician or anyone else to disclose healthcare information to a CA.

[Anonymous]

If it have happened to me, I would contact an attorney asap! And go for punitive damages!

I'll bet there are a bunch of attorney's out there that would LOVE to get hold of this one for you!

[Anonymous]

sue.  My gosh sue sue sue!!   Hippa laws are VERY strict.  and this is a MAJOR violation.  Makes me wish I was a lawyer.  My wife is a nurse manager at our hospital and she could be fired for even telling me a person's name that is at the hospital for treatment and the hospital would write a very nice check to that person.

[Anonymous]

You have some good grounds for a lawsuit, but I definitely agree with the PFD.  Lowball the offer and threaten them with a lawsuit because you've got a 90% chance of a win with the information you have on hand.

[CotJockey]

Thanks everyone for the replies!! Sorry for my delay responding as I have just gotten home from work. I sent them Tuscani's PFD letter almost a month ago and the other day I got a reply from from them with my copy of the PFD back and a letter validating my dispute. ( I dont guess they wanted my money as I agreed to pay the balance 100%) Anyway, thier validation was just as I said earlier. It did show my name, address, phone #, DOB and everything. Including my diagnosis, diagnosis codes, medicines, the treatment that I received, my prescriptions that he prescribed me, the CA even knows where I received my shot!! Sorry to ramble on, I just felt a little violated when they sent that to me. Thanks to all of you for the replies. I will let you know the outcome of it.

If I were to speak with a lawyer about this, what kind of lawyer would I need to seek? A consumer attorney or what?? Thank you again

Message Edited by CotJockey on 11-15-2007 03:14 AM

Message Edited by CotJockey on 11-15-2007 03:23 AM

[Anonymous]

Consumer lawyer

try naca.net

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@CotJockey wrote:

Thanks everyone for the replies!! Sorry for my delay responding as I have just gotten home from work. I sent them Tuscani's PFD letter almost a month ago and the other day I got a reply from from them with my copy of the PFD back and a letter validating my dispute. ( I dont guess they wanted my money as I agreed to pay the balance 100%) Anyway, thier validation was just as I said earlier. It did show my name, address, phone #, DOB and everything. Including my diagnosis, diagnosis codes, medicines, the treatment that I received, my prescriptions that he prescribed me, the CA even knows where I received my shot!! Sorry to ramble on, I just felt a little violated when they sent that to me. Thanks to all of you for the replies. I will let you know the outcome of it.

If I were to speak with a lawyer about this, what kind of lawyer would I need to seek? A consumer attorney or what?? Thank you again

Message Edited by CotJockey on 11-15-2007 03:14 AM

Message Edited by CotJockey on 11-15-2007 03:23 AM

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