My DH has a med. collection for Medclr from '99. I faxed a val. letter to their Headquarters in Fla. After 30 days, I faxed an ITS to the number listed on the credit report. Low and behold, it went to NCO. Today we received a response from NCO. I wanted to point out a few things and then ask for an opinion: 1. Medclr is listed on CR--Not NCO 2. The letter received only made ref. to Medclr as the successor in interest to the OC and that a request had been made to update Medclr as disputed on CR. 3. The letterhead stated an add for NCO in Getzville, NY 4. The form obviously printed from computer made ref. to NCO in PA. 5. The form stated the patient info, diagnosis, procedures/charges, and the insurance info Now, I know the form is not considered proper val. but isn't his diagnosis covered under Privacy Act? We never signed a consent to release info. And if I'm not mistaken, I believe that Medclr is NOT registered to do bus. in PA. and I have not found any info in OH (where we're located) or NY (address on Letterhead) So what should I do: 1. Ignore info sent from NCO since they are not CA on CR or 2.. Reply letting them know that what they sent was not proper val., that I know Medclr is not registed in PA, and that unless they delete from CR I will follow thru with lawsuit. Any and all advice would be appreciated. Thanks
We have the same problem - two medical accounts each with MEDCLR. I send DV to MEDCLR in Florida. First they updated report to show disputed, then they took that off and started reporting 120 day lates. This was from emergency room doctor bills where the billing service billed the wrong insurance company (who, of course, DENIED!), but now they've sold the accounts (to MEDCLR) and have washed their hands. We are also in Ohio and I checked with the Sec'y of State's office on them. In Ohio, CA doesn't have to be bonded or licensed. This is the response I got: "That just means they are not registered to do business in ohio, but if you live in ohio, and owe one of their clients money, they do have the right to collect that money no matter what state they are out of. If you have any further questions please contact our office at 877-767-3453. Thank You Business Services Ohio Secretary Of State" Estoppel is next for me.
Re: Re: nco/medclr letter resp to val. Nope, sorry but you need to be aware that the Hospital/Doctor/Health Care provider (HCP) can not do this if they agreed to accept your health care insurance for service. Just curious, a ER or hospital visit usually incompasses a number of medical professionals all of whom usually bill separately for the services renedered. The HCP has an agreement with the insurance company that requires them to file accurate and timely insurance claims (within 90 days) to the correct insurance company. Failure in part or in whole by an HCP to do this means that the HCP (not the patient) is liable for the charges (assuming that you paid all applicable co-pays/deductibles) and they are required to write off the bill as bad debt - not send it to a collection agency. Did any of the other HCP's related to these visits file accurate and timely claims with the correct insurance company that resulted in their claims being paid? My guess is they filed the claim with the wrong insurance company and it was denied. At this point, rather than attempting to contact you to verify insurance information, the medical billing specialist may have resubmitted the claim to the wrong insurance company but ore likley simply assumed that you were not insured and started past due procedures. If that was the case, this may or may not have included sending you written statements indicating past due amounts and then at some time later, when the account became 90-days past due, it was then sent/assigned to the CA. Here is what you should consider doing - obviously send the CA a debt validation letter so as to put them on the back burner because your relief is to be found with HCP - not the CA. Next, contact the insurance company that covered you and your family at the time this occurred and review your claims history for the period in which the visits occurred and verify whether any claims were filed by and subsequently paid too any other HCPs for the same visit. Often times a visit to the ER or Hospital involves service from multiple HCP's some of whom may have billed your insurance company separately. Hopefully the claims history will indicate that other HCP's were able to file timely claims and subsequently get paid for service by the insurance company - this would be proof that the bill from the HCP 's now in collection is due to their negligence - not yours. You should use this information to file a formal complaint that accurately outlines the HCP's incompetence and negligence in the handling of your medical claims with your states attorney general and since most have websites, you can usually file your complaint online. Next, now this is probably going to cost some money, but you will need to contact an attorney to draft a letter to the HCP that indicates your disatisfaction with the HCP's lack of business ethics and their failure to adhere to contractual agreements as well as your intent to sue the HCP unless they (1) Immediately recall the debt from the CA. (2) Ensure that any and all derogatory information is deleted from your credit history at the CRA's. (3) Finally, because of their incompetence in filing accurate and timely claims, they are to take appropriate steps to account for the amounts due as a business expense and provide you with a statement of account on corporate letterhead indicating such ($0.00 balance due). How did I learn all of this - by similar experience! I had to make a visit to the an ER a couple hours after a bicycling accident (severely bruised ribs) and the person who handled the admission to the ER apparently could not understand/read the data on my insurance card! Although the other HCP's involved with my visit filed accurate and timely claims within 90-days and were promptly paid by our medical insurance, ironically, the hospital only sent me past due notices. even though I responded immediately responded to each notice informing the billing reps I spoke with that the visit was covered by insurance, apparently the hospital never filed any kind of claim. When the account went 90-days past due (and past the time for filing a timely claim with the insurer), the hospital then sent the account to their collection subsidiary. In fact, it was the CA who, when informed that this was supposed to have been covered by insurance, was the first to file a claim (nearly 7-months after the fact) on behalf of the hospital ER. My wife, an attorney, wrote a very stronlgy worded letter to the Hospital and I wrote a formal complaint to the Texas Attorney General's office (using their website). The AG sent a letter to the corporation within 3-weeks and I followed up shorlty afterward and for the first time actually got to speak to billing staff at the hospital and not get transfered/forwarded to the colleciton agency. I was amazed at how courteous and cooperative the billing staff suddenly became at that point! Michael
Re: Re: nco/medclr letter resp to val. The outstanding bills are from the ER doctors who contract with the hospital for their services. The hospital had the correct insurance information in their system, and they submitted and were PAID the facilities charges for all of these claims. The hospital billing dept says the ER doctors' billing service uses the hospital's records to bill, and why the billing service didn't use the correct insurance company is a mystery. It wasn't one I ever even had! The problem with MEDCLR is that they've purchased the debts, so there isn't a OC-CA relationship. My DV letter to them (I sent one last fall, unanswered, before I knew what I was doing, and another a few weeks ago) has resulted in 120 day lates on my CR - blowing my score without validation from them. Since it hasn't been 30 days, though, I decided to wait and see if they send anything. I don't know who to consider the OC here - the ER doctor himself? If so, at least one of them is no longer there, so then what? I thought about HIPAA for the insert about did not bill insurance, but since the ER doctor is just himself and doesn't have a "legal dept" I wouldn't know who to send it to. Thanks so much for your help. This one really has me boggled and MEDCLR is a pain!
Re: Re: Re: nco/medclr letter resp to val. So the what I am reading here is that the contract doctors, via a billing service, not only failed to abide by contractual stipulations, they also profited from this when they agreed to the sale of untenable debt to a colleciton agency? Sounds to me like even more fuel for the fire! Obviously although the ER docotors appeared to have contracted out the billing services, this does not relieve them from their contractual obligations. As I said before, file a complaint with state AG's office and retain a lawyer - only add MedClr to the mix. The doctors involved have failed to file timely and accurate claims as evidenced by the fact that the hospital itself filed and was paid by your insurance provider. You should not be held liable for their staff's (contracted or otherwise) inability to do what their job - the debt is obvioulsy untenable but you are being held liable for their mistakes! Michael
Re: Re: Re: nco/medclr letter resp to val. Thank you! I will do this and let you know how it turns out. Sounds like it might take a while... oh, well, wasn't planning on doing anything else with my summer!
Re: Re: Re: nco/medclr letter resp to val. You may want to read this post about Medclr: http://consumers.creditnet.com/straighttalk/board/showthread.php?s=&threadid=28448&highlight=medclr
: nco/medclr letter resp to val. Click here: CREDITNET | Straight Talk | | IMPORTANT MEDCLR information!!!!!! Re: Re: Re: nco/medclr letter resp to val.
: nco/medclr letter resp to val. Well I received a letter from NCO on June 19 (their last day to respond) stating that they would be deleting the acct from all Credit Reports. Here is a sample letter I sent them: VIA FACSIMILE June 10, 2003 Medclr Inc PO Box 8545 Philadelphia, PA 19101 NCO Financial Systems, Inc 150 Crosspoint Parkway Crosspoint Business Park Getzville, NY 14068 RE: Account #: XXXXX NOTICE OF intent to FILE LAWSUIT Dear Legal Dept: I am in receipt of your letter and documentation for the above referenced account. However, I am a little confused as to what relationship NCO Financial Systems, Inc has with Medclr, Inc. After contacting the Pennsylvania Dept. of State, it was brought to my attention that Medclr, Inc. is not registered to do business in the state of Pennsylvania. Also, NCO Financial System, Inc does not list Medclr, Inc as a dba or a "previous name" (from mergers). Furthermore, the documentation you sent is not considered proper validation. So again I am requesting the following information: 1. Evidence that youâ??re authorized to do business or operate in the State of Ohio. 2. Proof of the alleged debt, including specifically the alleged contract or other instrument bearing my signature. 3. Any insurance claims made by any creditor regarding these accounts. 4. A complete itemization of services and/ or equipment provided. 5. The amounts, if any, charged to profit and loss by the original creditor The FDCPA states you must cease collection activity until you have produced validation of the alleged debt if so requested. As per the FTC, this includes reporting to the credit bureaus, which you obviously have done illegally. It is quite evident that no such proof of this alleged debt exists or you would have provided it in the previous months since it was requested. Also, when an alleged debt is disputed, a notation must be entered on the debtors credit report showing the item as in dispute. Again, this was not done. . Your company, when the account was in dispute with the Credit reporting agency/agencies, continued to verify and update the information, without sending me my demanded proof of the alleged debt as per my requests. I'm sure you are aware of the consequences in violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act as well as the multiple violations your company is now responsible for. If not, let me point them out for you. FCRA 1. § 623. Responsibilities of furnishers of information to consumer reporting agencies [15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2] (a)(3) â?? Duty to provide notice of dispute. 2. § 611. Procedure in case of disputed accuracy [15 U.S.C. § 1681i] (5) Treatment of inaccurate or unverifiable information. FDCPA 1. § 809. Validation of debts [15 USC 1692g] (b) â?? Failure to validate but continues to collect - Failure to validate but continues to report 2. § 807(8) Failure to report to CRA as disputed 3. § 808. Unfair practices As per the FDCPA: § 813. Civil liability [15 USC 1692k] (a) Except as otherwise provided by this section, any debt collector who fails to comply with any provision of this title with respect to any person is liable to such person in an amount equal to the sum of -- (1) any actual damage sustained by such person as a result of such failure; (2) (A) in the case of any action by an individual, such additional damages as the court may allow, but not exceeding $1,000. The following items must be deleted from my credit files with the three major credit reporting bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union and) by June 19, 2003. . Forward a letter to me via regular mail stating they have been removed and will not reappear on my credit reports again by you or another collection agency. Please be aware if I do not receive proper validation from your company by June 19, 2003, I will be filing a lawsuit for multiple violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. I will be seeking civil liability in the amount of $1000 per violation. Please also be aware I will file a formal complaint with the Federal Trade Commission and The Ohio Attorney General. Thank you and I look forward to resolving this most expeditiously. Sincerely, DH Thanks SCMomof5 for all the info you shared.
Re: : nco/medclr letter resp to val. Now that is cool but you know what, you are not done yet? Obviously NCO has no regard for business ethics and I think that this requires action. I think you are best served by filing the complaints regardless of NCO's actions as it is time they are made to take a little bit of responsibility for these types of things. Also, the doctors involved are also to blame since they have obviously sold untenable accounts receivables in order to recoup losses as a result of their inability to properly manage/oversee the business aspect of their medical practice. A reasonable percentage of the medical profession will continue to use this tactic with untenable debts until they are held accoutnable for their lack of ethics as well. You may want to consider filing a complaint with the AMA and your state medical board as well. Michael
