Medical debt validation from CA

[Anonymous]

I have 3 medical collections with Progressive Management Systems from a Hip Replacement surgery I had Dec 2016. I was unaware as I thought this was all covered through Workers comp. Anyhow I sent a letter to PMS asking to validate these accounts. What they sent me was a breakdown which includes my medical record number, date of service, description of service and cost. Is this considered a HIPAA violation?  Any info or suggestions on how to attack this would be greatly appreciated. 

[RobertEG]

Are you asking how to use their reply to show a violation of your privacy under HIPPA, or is your goal to use it to get the collection removed from your credit report?  Very different issues.........

[Anonymous]

Ultimate goal is to get these removed from my credit report. 

[RobertEG]

The debt validation process is a debt collection practices provision under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), and has no provisions that require removal of credit reporting as a result of lack of validation, or violation of privacy provisions under HIPPA.

One state, namely Texas, does include a provision within its own state debt collection practices statute that mandates removal of reporting of collections if the debt collector fails to provide validation within the 30-day period set forth in that statute, but that is not a provision of the federal FDCPA.

In the cited scenario, they appear to have provided more than is required under the FDCPA, which has no requirement that validation must include supporting documentary evidence.   The fact that any documenttion may have separately violated a consumer's privacy of medical information under HIPAA does not render the validation inadequate, and is separate basis for making a HIPAA complaint, as specified in that act.