HIPPA question

[IslandDreamer]

What do you think?

Okay, someone at the hospital screwed up and sent my bill to a collection agency. I was making payments slowly until I got an itemized bill, and I told them so, that they wouldn't get full payment until I got itemization to go over with the insurance company. Sounds fair, or so I thought. So Jack is 7 months old and still no itemized bill, but he is in collections? Guess they tagged some of my bills under his name??????

Anyway, I call the collection agency and explain all this, and THEY request an itemized bill and it's here in three days? WTF? So I couldn't manage to get one but they could?

And here's the HIPPA question...how on earth can my itemized bill come in a letter from the collection agency? Isn't that a violation of my privacy rights to have everything labelled out for all to see

[aaronsmommy]

The rules are purposefully vague on details like this, but do say that information can be shared to business associates such as billing and collection agencies. They do specify that it should be the minimum neccessary amount, and that the info can not be used for any purpose other than the specified one. I think under normal circumstances an itemized bill would be excluded, but if you told them that you needed it before payment, then my guess is that it would be deemed necessary.

[krdoty]

Suzanne,

How long has it been since you got the first bill from the collection agency? My suggestion (as a former collector) is that you put in writing what you have told us. Tell them that the hospital/doctor did not provide you with the information necessary to process payment and ask them to send the debt by to the hospital to be collected internally. At the same time, contact the billing/payment department at the hospital. Speak to a supervisor there and ask them to pull the account back from collections.

If you're within the 30 days since the first bill was received from the collection agency, this should work. After that it may not, but there is still a chance. Remind the hospital that by working with you directly that they will receive 100% of the money that you pay, and that if they leave the account with the collection agency that they will only receive a percentage. Also remind them that you have been requesting itemized billing for X months and never received those until after it was sent to the agency.