I received a bill today from a local clinic stating that I owe them $25 dollars. We have not used this clinic in years, the bill lists no date of service, no provider, no patient name, etc. Under description it says "balance forward', nothing else to identify what this is for or when it occurred. I have no idea what this is for and wonder if they are trying to get me to pay some very old bill, possibly even one that I have already paid(they are known for that, why we don't use them). My wife thinks that "she heard" they are providing billing services for other doctors, clinics and hospitals so perhaps that it. Still, I wish to dispute this with them or at least get a little more info on it. Are they held to the same requirements as collection agencies regarding disputes, etc if they are the original creditor?
SInce this is just a bill, I'd call them and explain that you haven't used their services for quite some time, and request to know when date of service was. I don't see any reason that you should send them a letter. If it is a collection notice, has the disclaimer at the bottom, then use the 30 days provided to send a validation letter.
If you would please provide DATE OF SERVICE, PATIENT NAME, DOCTOR, ADDRESS SERVICE WAS PROVIDED AT, NATURE OF SERVICE PROVIDED, if you can NOT provide the previous information I will assume that THIS IS NOT MY BILL AND YOU WILL NOT CONTACT ME IN THE FUTURE.
It does not appear to be a collection notice. Looks like a bill for recent services with a due date of January 15th. Years ago I asked this clinic for an itemized list of services and charges when I had some questions concerning my bill. They refused. Can I demand one? What's the law regarding that, if any?
I can't imagine it!! This is amazing!! If they don't know that, how can they file insurance claims? Just find an old check you wrote them for something, photcopy the front and back, send it to them, and say you already paid it, LOL.
Incidentally, in Virginia there is a special board that governs health care providers. I would call your state's consumer affairs division and ask them who to get some help from. Jeepers with no dates of service, etc, they can just pick a name out of the phonebook and send them a bill.
I would not put it past them, nor, sadly, any of the other medical providers in my local area. Here's one incident that might give you an idea of what they are like. In 1991 my wife was pregnant with our son. We both worked full time, owned a home, both carried medical insurance. As it so happened the step daughter of a woman I worked with had recently moved in and was also pregnant. This girl had been living with her mother in a Chicago burb, she was 14, and the father of the child was a 21 year old street gang member who was in jail by the time this girl moved in with my co-worker. Additionally, the mother who had custody had let her health insurance lapse. This girl and my wife were both in their first trimester with due dates very close. Same clinic, same doctor, and within 2 days of each other they both had ultra-sounds for the same reason. Co-worker was chatting with me and complained about the bill for this and in the coarse of the conservation told me that hers was around $200 dollars. I told her that couldn't be right, mine was well over $400. We brought our bills to work and compared, they were identical, with one exception. A small box that said something like "class" or "type", don't remember what, had a different letters in them. We questioned the clinic about this but could never get an answer. Didn't take much to figure out though. We were a married couple, owned our home, worked full time and carried insurance. She was a 14 year old girl, no insurance, father of child in jail, etc. They base their rates on how much they think they can get out of someone. Sorry for the long reply, I'm still mad about this one and need to complain about it once in a while.
George, I would not put anything past them. I was once sued in less than a month, before I had even received the bill.
