A ca sent me a stack of health insurance claim forms. They all say "Signature on file." Only one is on my cr. This is in response to validation request for the one account. They state that they investigated and found these other accounts, and that they have been in contact with the oc who has indicated that the accounts are valid. Attached are accounts, per your request - I guess this is my validation. They are for both spouse and myself, sent only to one of us, in response to a letter sent by that one person. Is this validation?
I don't know much about medical accounts, and I don't know how the heck they got those other accounts, but I copied this down, and it has been tremendously helpful in telling me what validation is. The information sent to you for proper validation should contain: 1. Accounting of any payments made by you. 2. The dates on which those payments were made. 3. The interest which had accrued. 4. Any late fees which had been assessed once you stopped making the required payments. I have gotten about 8 accounts deleted this way, and I am still using it. Again, I don't know about medical collections, but I hope this helps.
If this is in the provider's signature box this is simply the doctor's billing service's way of not having the doctor physically sign each form. The insurer has the doctor's signature and provider number and just references it if necessary. The billing service prints "SIGNATURE ON FILE" on every claim in this box so that they can mail them out directly without having to involve the doctor for his signature on *every* form. It saves a lot of time and effort, besides, the doctor almost never personally determines the exact coding of the claim which in turn determines the charges.
Actually, you are correct this is in the box for the Dr. signature, which I had not noticed. However, what I really need to know about is that this is also in the 2 boxes that are supposed to be signed by the patient + insured.
Terri, The simple answer is no, it's not validation. The medical industry routinely files cliams with "signature on file". That's no big deal, but they better have your signature on file. The issue here is that the OC "indicating" that the accounts are valid is a far cry from proper validation.
That is what I thought. So do I ignore it and file a lawsuit? What if they do come up with some "proof"?
Since I have already sent an intent to sue letter, (this is their response), what would you do next? They also copied this to the BBB, and they have no proof I received it because the green card is still on the envelope. If I can sue over this, I will file Monday!
I believe that your privacy rights have been violated. Releasing your insurance claim forms to a third party who is not a medical provider is a no-no. Linda
So am I , well sorta. lol I thought you meant blank claim forms so you could fill in the blanks and get the claim paid. Ooooops
Emailed the attorney who successfully defeated one of members of Bud Hibbs "CA's to Avoid" List for me last fall. Hope to hear that he is interested. If he is, I am going to bring along a couple other situations for him to look at!!
