HIPAA related question.

[Anonymous]

Hello there,

First, I want to say I am very grateful for these forums.  They have given me hope when I thought all was lost.

Here is part of my situation:

I have 4 medical items in CA status on each of my credit reports that were racked up at the same time. (CA = Central Finance Control.) I have reviewed the HIPAA process that is detailed in these forums and it seems the right way to go; however, I have what may be an ignorant question:

The premise of this process seems to be that once you pay OC, that the CA has no legitimate business reason to keep reporting the information.  While that makes sense, I thought that the OC sold this debt to the CA for pennies on the dollar and that they wouldn't be able to accept the payment anyway. I am sure this is my lack of understanding regarding the relationship between the OC and CA in the case of medical debts but I was hoping to get confirmation of that fact here.

thanks for your time.

[Anonymous]

CAs can either work to collect someone else's debt, or they can buy debt. The first letter you send out establishes who owns the debt. I believe (but could be wrong) that medical debt is not usually sold because the information in the files cannot be shared unless it is with a business associate for the purpose of collecting a debt. No files means a debt can't be validated, and so they can't report or prove the debt.

As for paying the OC, given a choice between cashing a cashier's check made out to them or refusing that money, which action is most likely for a hospital or doctor? Once the debt is paid, it is paid. You do no sign a contract with a CA, you do with a doctor or hospital, and until proven otherwise with documentation, your debt is to that medical provider.

[fused]

Welcome to the forums!

The HIPAA letter process is more than a credit repair process. Its also used to prove the following:

that a CA has a business purpose to your private health information

that its a valid collection and the CA can report it

to determine if the OC and the CA have a business relationship

These things are important to know and they will help you build a case in the event the early letters do not have a paid med collection deleted. If all else fails and you need to file a HIPAA complaint against the OC, if you don't have any proof that you did everything possible to rectify your situation, its unlikely the OCR (the Office for Civil Rights) will accept or investigate your complaint.

It doesn't matter if the med collections are paid, or who you paid, you can still use the HIPAA letter process. Just keep in mind that a valid unpaid collection can stay on your reports for up to seven years from the date you received medical care. Also, do not use the HIPAA process on unpaid medical collections that you cannot afford to pay in full.

[Anonymous]

thanks for the reply,  It sounds like in the case of medical bills the CA are brought in to help 'shake-down' the debtor rather than assume responsibility for the debt.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Fused!

Just to clarify, these are unpaid medical collections that I am referring to here and I know they are legitimate so I I would like to try and pay them if possible. 

With that being said, do I still need to send PRE-HIPAA MEDICAL DISPUTE LETTER  or should I jump to sending the HIPAA LETTER TO THE OC with insert a.

[fused]

I don't have any hard numbers to prove this, but I would guess that 50% of med collections on credit reports are are invalid.

[fused]

If you want to follow the HIPAA letter process, these are the first three steps:

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).

OPT-OUT ALL CREDITORS

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

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). If your med collection is deleted, you're finished.

PRE-HIPAA MEDICAL DISPUTE LETTER

[Anonymous]

Ok Fused, so I have made some progress with the HIPAA process you have outlined:

Step #1 - Done (Online form completed and Letters sent out today to all creditors in good standing)

Step #2 - Done (Verified and updated.)

Step #3 - Currently putting together my letters.

As I am doing this a few questions are popping in my head.

1) Have you heard of any cases where the absence of the full account number in the Pre-HIPAA letter has caused the process to be obstructed?  I ask because the CRAs only include a partial account #.  If I had the full account number that would mean I did have a record...

2) For my particular case I have 4 items with 4 distinct account #'s all racked up at the same time, all having the same OC and all having the same CA associated with them.  The first question I had regarding whether I can include four dispute letters in one mailing were answered in another thread.  The second question I have is this:  What happens if 2 of the 4 items are dropped off after the pre-HIPAA letter, but the other two can only be removed with the HIPAA OC letter (with insert a)?  I am worried that I will be putting myself in a bad situation by offering to pay only 2 of the 4 items. I am currently past the SOL (4-5 years in Florida) but I am not even 100% sure of the likelihood of being brought to court over medical debt anyway.  I just dont want the 2 that were previously removed to reappear.  If I had to guess, I would say it would be rare for the situation I have outlined to occur.  It seems more likely that all or none of the accounts would drop of my reports.

thanks again for your time,