Hi, I'm new!!! I would love any input from anyone who has experience or an opinion on this topic. This forum was recommended to me by the good people at creditinfocenter.com... I have 2 medical collections 1 from the hospital and 1 from the dr for a single er visit. both accounts are with separate ca's and were listed on all three reports. I was lucky enough to have them deleted from TU, and EQ, however, EX has them both verified. 1 was unable to validate in response to my request, but the other sent over my complete and total medical records regarding the visit. This ca represents the er doctor. the medical record even includes the dr's scribbled notes regarding my condition. it even includes a notation about admitting drug use (college...). i wanted to pay the 4 year old collection i was only recently made aware of, however, I feel as though my rights have been violated, but I cannot prove so. I am in Michigan, and have tried to decipher HIPPA laws. What i translate a lot of that to mean is that these medical providers can release indentifiable med info if in fact it is for the purpose of payment, providing a 'business agreement' exists between the medical provider and the third party (ca) allowing for the release... I could be wrong about this. I am in the process of sending a pr to EX regarding the 2 verified collections, but I just wanted to find out if the ca or the medical provider who 'handed' over my entire medical record were in some sort of violation, which angers me to no end. input would be greatly appreciated. thanks, kbean
t seems to me that your doctor just violated the most cardinal principle of medicine - the Doctor Patient Privilege. The doctor can release to a third party your billing and insurance information for purposes of getting paid. releasing medical information to a Collection Agency is a dangerous practice. Releasing the entire medical chart is Malpractice. Get Thee to a lawyer and sue the $hit out of that doctor.
According to the new HIPAA privacy laws, the hospital or doctor cannot release any of your personal or medical information without your signed, written consent. Do you recall signing a release form prior to your treatment? It really doesn't matter if you did - generally most medical facilities ask you to sign a generic release form. Under the new privacy act the collector must show proof that you signed a form authorizing the release of your records to this particular collector! I clipped the following quote from this link: http://www.carreonandassociates.com/medical-collections.htm --Protect your medical records by requesting proof that you signed an authorization allowing the medical provider to release your information to a third party collector. This law is covered under the HIPAA Act and if you did not authorize it then the provider may have violated the HIPAA by giving your records to the debt collector. This may be a great reason to have your debt pulled back from the collector and sent back to the provider. If that happens, a collector is not authorized to report the debt to your credit reports, so be sure and check your credit and if it's listed, dispute it. I would call the attorneys on that website and ask questions if I were you. Sounds like you have a great case for monetary damages =)
Re: med collections...privacy ... h so what kind of lawyer would want this? i was thinking small claims, but i can't even figure out the exact 'thing' they violated to quote... i could use about 10 g's though. thanks for the input. you're beautiful.
Re: Re: med collections...privacy ... help You are in a great position to stick it to the OC =) I would take this opportunity to get back at them for all the undue stress they caused me - I'm mischievous like that I would call them up (no letters) and say something like "Are you aware of the new HIPAA privacy laws governing the release of my medical records to a collection agency without my prior written consent? SEE YOU IN COURT!!!" and then watch them squirm. hee hee =)
Re: Re: med collections...privacy ... h I thought you would have clicked on my link and spoken to one of those attorneys by now.
Re: Re: med collections...privacy ... h i emailed a question to 'kristi' the credit expert... but for some reason i don't think that will pan out... i tried to look for lega services... i am such a bone head, not the greatest at navigating these sites... i also emailed the malpractice lawyer near me... don't know what to think of that either... in the mean time you really think i should call the oc? the ca letter was all snotty, and i keep getting all fired up every time i think of the quote "if you still believe that you were not the one at the emergency room the night of blah blah... please contact our offices" my whole point in the beginning was that there were 4 different collection agencies trying to collect for the same hospital visit (which i initially assumed to be a case of identity fraud and sent a d/v letter to that affect) i just hope that at some point i didn't waive my rights... also i have heard that communicating with the collection agency waives your privacy rights. i think i just want the oc to pretend like i was never there and to stuff his 216 dollar hosp bill up his you know what.
Re: Re: med collections...privacy ... h i just got a response from why chat at another site and it was along the lines of... "no violation... this debt was accumulated before 4/03. my records can be released for purpose of payment" doesn't that suck? there wasn't enough 'quoted' but why chat posted a link to a letter to get the mark removed... but my question is if hippa does not impact this debt because of its age...why would the hippa letter for the oc?
Re: Re: med collections...privacy ... help whychat says that my records can be released for pursuit of payment... thanks for the spirit however.
