Medical (hippa) confusion

[Veee]

For the topic that brought me here ...

I have read and reread the posting and such here and well ... I still have questions.

This is only regarding EQ, they are the only ones that have medical listed on my CR.

Under collections I have 4 of them and they are all medical.  They are all listed with a CA, all different CA's and I know about all of them to a point.  I didn't realize they weren't paid and/or didn't realize they were on my credit report.

1 - this first one is paid and it says paid on it, DOFD is 5/06, it was paid 10/07 and reported 8/07.  Because this is medical my understanding is that it should be removed and I would like it removed, its paid in full.  Is this something I can just bring to their attention and they will remove?  Or does this fall under the hippa also and if so, this is where I'm confused.  The first letter I would send out would make me a liar in the sense that the letter says "I have no knowledge of ..." I obviously do because I paid it.  If I need to go to someone other then the CRA who do I go to first to get this resolved; CA or OC?

2 - I'm not sure about this second one, is it okay for me to call the doctor's office and inquire about this before I start all this hippa stuff, if that's the way I go?  I don't believe I am respondsible for this debt., if I am I'll take care of it as this dr. was wonderful with my son.  I think this was a charge from when he was in a study and they paid for everything, I shouldn't have been charged ... I surely didn't get a bill and was totally unaware of this debt.

3 & 4 - These are both the same medical facility for the same procedure but filed with two different CA's but they are different services (dr & hosp).  DOFD is 12/01 on both of them.  Will these come off at the end of this year?  I'm in Florida.  This is going to be a big fight for me and might just be worth letting them fall off my credit.  Without getting to detailed .. I had a procedure done 12/01 that was paid by my insurance at the time in full (still married), the procedure failed and I had to have it done again and the doc said he would do it for me (at this time no insurance, divorced) and I believe these charges to be this situation.

I hope I'm not too long winded, looking forward to your feedback.

Thank you, V

[fused]

In order for you to exercise your rights under HIPAA, you MUST disputed the med collections first. Send letter #1, the pre-HIPAA letter, to EQ for each collection...make sure you send them CMRRR and wait 35 days for the results of your disputes. Write the letters as they're already written. Keep in mind that the HIPAA letter process requires you pay in full. Do not communicate with the CA, make EQ verify these debts. Hold off on the OC for now.

[Veee]

Just so I understand, all 4 of these I need to dispute - the only purpose for doing this is to get them varified, right?  Even on the paid one?  Haven't I already varified it by paying it ... so to speak?

Thank you! I'm sure you get tired of repeating yourself along with a few others on this topic but I know I appreciate it and I'm sure they do to.  I just want to do it right so it works the first time, I hate doing things over again ... and messing up on the first time is even worse LOL.

Thanks again, V

[fused]

---

Veee wrote:

Just so I understand, all 4 of these I need to dispute - the only purpose for doing this is to get them varified, right?  Even on the paid one?  Haven't I already varified it by paying it ... so to speak?

This is a real sticking point within the HIPAA process. To put it bluntly, no pre-HIPAA dispute, no HIPAA letter process.

Thank you! I'm sure you get tired of repeating yourself along with a few others on this topic but I know I appreciate it and I'm sure they do to.  I just want to do it right so it works the first time, I hate doing things over again ... and messing up on the first time is even worse LOL.

No problem! I use macros and I copy/paste a lot. Asking questions is a MUST when you're new to credit recovery. So ask as many questions as you need...we won't bite you. LOL!

Thanks again, V

---