Medical Claim Help

[Anonymous]

I received a threatening letter, 10 days to pay or they will sue, from a collection agency for $1409.53. I responded by requesting they send me the itemized bill and some kind of proof that the bill was mine and that they had the right to collect on it. Today, I received a packet of documents; an authorization, release and agreement to pay for services for the physician (signed by me) that includes my authorization to bill my credit card directly, my patient registration form for the physician (signed by me) that includes my insurance information, a letter from the physician to the agency signing over a debt in the amount of 840.48, and two computer print outs of a statement totaling 641.59 BUT if you add up the line items on list the amount is actually 220.87. This statement has my name on it but does not identify the physician - it isn't on any type of letterhead and is only labeled "Screen Print on Friday, April 07 2006".

My first question is can I request that they prove that this is mine? Obviously I had an account with the physician but I don't see anything in what the CA provided that shows that I indeed received these services.  

My second question is where do I start on the amount? The documentation is wrong or at best incomplete.

My third question is legally can this debt be accruing interest even though I gave them two valid payment methods?

Thank you for any assistance you can provide.

[fused]

Hi Coa and Welcome to the forums! In most instances, I recommend you use the HIPAA letter process (this link is in my sig line) to fight med collections, but you're situation is a bit more complicated. The HIPAA process will only work for collections, not public records like judgments, or to be more specific in your case, a medical judgment. We don't have HIPAA protection against medical judgments, so what we need to do first is to avoid having you get sued by the collection agency. Please answer the following questions and I'll do my best to help you out.

- when did the doctor provide services to you

- which state do you live in? if so saw the doctor in another state, which one was it?

- if you have to, can you pay this $1,409.53 debt

I have to say this is a  ton of info that was sent to you by the CA, but I agree it is missing some key info

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your response.

To answer your questions:

The date of service was 7/21/05.

I live in AZ and the physician is in AZ as well.

I am willing to pay the $1409.53, if I get verification that this is in fact the correct amount.

They have not filed suit yet but have submitted to all three CRA's with the $840.48 amount.