I am battling with a hospital right now to do a pay for delete on a $50 ER copay that is on my husband's report. The supervisor first told me that they were "not allowed" by CAs to delete correct information. When I told him he'd have to delete anyway if I paid because of HIPPA regs he told me that the statutes have been interpreted such that it is no longer considered to be a breach of confidentiality to report credit info. Do I have a leg to stand on? I need to take some FAST action cuz we got hit by Ivan and need to apply for a FEMA loan. Thanks for any info. Poochie
Is there anything the hospital failed to do to handle the billing, whether insurance, or copay, incorrectly? Why was it not paid: Did they fail to bill you, bill you at the wrong address, did they file the insurance claim incorrectly, delaying payment, or sending you an incorrect invoice, etc?
No, they did not make any errors that I am aware of - the fault was ours. We had several ER trips for both our kids that year, and we got lost in the billing. We usually paid in the ER, but in this case we had an old insurance card, and our co-pay had gone up from $50 to $100 and we only paid half. They billed us for the second half and I thought it was a mistake. Then we moved out of state, mail wasn't reaching us, etc. We have NO problem paying it but we need it off his report ASAP b/c I'm worried about getting approved for a FEMA loan.
Re: Help!! HIPPA regs changed or li The change isn't to HIPPA, but rather a result of the FACT Act. They probably are right about their agreement with the CA, but that doesn't mean you can't ask. In writing, btw, not on the phone. This was a one-time mistake, not a series of mistakes you made repeatedly. I'd go through the whole validation process, etc. Look for a technicality. One other thing you can do is try to find a broker who will do rapid rescoring for you. I wouldn't pay it until the point that the broker tells you to -- there are downsides to paying a collection account, btw.
Re: Help!! HIPPA regs changed or li Yes, we'll have to start the slow way I guess, but FEMA isn't a mortgage loan, it's a federal loan to help us repair our home following the hurricane. We're in AL and got some damage, and we have a $10K deductible, so we're in a jam at the moment. I don't know how FEMA approval works, but I"m assuming they will evaluate husband's credit, which is not so great thanks mostly to a high utilization, 1-2 30 day lates (over 1 year old) and this dang hospital bill for my daughter's care.
Re: Help!! HIPPA regs changed or li Poochie --- I believe that in order to report it - they have to have a legal valid reason to do so. If it's paid, then they have no legal reason to report it and therefore once it's paid and disputed with the CRA, they can no longer have access to that info. Do they know you're shopping for a mortgage? If not, it'll be easier. Once they know they really drag their feet. You might try the: look it doesn't do me any good to have a pd collection - it's just as bad as an unpaid. I only have Xamt of money and if you won't pay to delete, I'll use it on another account. Should work as long as they dont' know you're house shopping.
Re: Help!! HIPPA regs changed or li Ok - here's a question. I just read that the FACT Act takes effect this december, 12 months after it was signed, so does that mean that I can still apply Why Chat's HIPPA letter?
Re: Help!! HIPPA regs changed or li Hi Shanyl - I believe we must have crossed on the circuits but just to clarify - we're not applying for a mortgage. FEMA = Federal Emergency Management Agency. We were affected by Hurricane Ivan and will need to take out a loan to cover our $10K deductible.
Re: Help!! HIPPA regs changed or li You're right.... I was thinking mortgage. Which is DUMB of me because my mother was exec. sec. to the director of FEMA. It's been years though..... If my memory serves me right, you can apply for relief through FEMA and not have to do a loan for the deductible. I know.... a whole other story all together right? Anyhow, I still believe what I wrote about the HIPAA situation is correct.
Re: Help!! HIPPA regs changed or li bump - so do we have any way to force them to remove this chargeoff if we pay? The "FACT" act does not take effect until this December, the way I'm reading it. Thanks!!!!
Re: Help!! HIPPA regs changed or li While I find the forum to be very helpful, I think ego must be set aside on occasion to attack some of these problems differently and achieve faster results. You are burying yourself by trying to sound like a legal expert about the regs even if you are correct in their interpretaton. That is the worse thing you can do with this supervisor. Stop getting sucked into a pissing contest and focus on improving your strategy to solve the problem. Idiots in power only dig in further when you try to debate with them head on. The person you are dealing with is not going to help you. Teach yourself to be more creative and do some lateral thinking. Have you tried going up the line? Often the hospital Administrator or CFO is more sympathetic. It feeds their ego to be able to help someone in distress resolve a clerical matter which only takes 5 minutes of their time to clear up. They get the bill paid and you get the deletion so it does not cost them anything. A win-win outcome. Make an appointment to speak with one of them. A face-to-face polite conversation should be your next step. Be humble and don't try to sound like a lawyer or adverserial as that will turn them off immediately. I've seen this aproach work wonders. More battles are won in the long run by being more selective about what you tell the enemy. It's a mind game. Play stupid and stop trying to act too smart. You want to make them feel warm and fuzzy about helping you. Pander to their ego and forget the other crap.
Re: Re: Help!! HIPPA regs changed o Unfortunately for us, it is pretty cut and dried. We took my daughter to the ER, paid what we thought was our $50 co-pay. However, our co pay had changed to $100, we were using an old card, so we got billed the difference. We didn't pay because we thought it was a hospital error, we also had several co-pays for my son that year, somewhere along the way we just dropped the ball. I don't know where to find an error there. I have a BK so my credit is shot. DH's last score was a 625, down from 650 because of this collection account. He doesn't have major issues, a few 30 day lates in the past - his big problem is mainly utilization. Please, I really really need concrete information now pertaining either to: 1. FEMA loan guidelines. This post originated because I'm concerned about qualifying for a FEMA loan to repair the damage to our home resulting from Hurricane Ivan. I need to do everything I can to up his score, and we don't have the $$$ to pay down his debt yet. 2. Whether the HIPPA loophole is still in effect if we pay, or whether, as the supervisor told me, it has been closed. I don't have a lot of time to work on this problem - we need to apply for a loan within the next 10-14 days, as soon as we get our package from FEMA. Please, please - any one with info please post. Thanks Poochie
Re: Re: Help!! HIPPA regs changed o Did you call FEMA to learn their qualifying criteria? Normally if someone is not eligible, FEMA automatically refers them to IFGP for a grant.
Re: Re: Help!! HIPPA regs changed o Hi, and thanks also for you previous post. I just finished a good will letter to go to the CFO in the morning. Sometimes it's too easy to get sucked into an advesarial position. I asked the rep I spoke with and she was not able to tell me over the phone. I'm guessing that they bulked up on phone reps to handle the volume and these folks aren't all that familiar with the process. His credit is generally ok, and he was able to get approved for a mortgage in Jan at A+ rates. And he has good income. His score now is about 25 points lower than it was then because of this collection. We'll need to borrow $10-$15K - not much in the grand scheme of things and certainly well within his debt/income ratio. I'll post a seperate thread asking about FEMA. Thanks! Poochie
Re: Re: Help!! HIPPA regs changed o If the hospital is within reasonable driving distance, and you want to avoid being blown off again, make a personal visit. Good luck.
Re: Re: Help!! HIPPA regs changed o Actually it's in another state. We moved to AL earlier this year. My husband has business up there though, so it may be possible for him to go hand deliver it, although he's on a sensitive project assignment and not really free to go out during the day much.
