Medical Bill - Right name, wrong person

My husband got a bill for medical service that he never recvd. We disputed the charge in writing, and the hospital sent back signed copies of the patient registration and insurance. They belong to some other guy with same name but different social #, birth date, employer and health insurance policy number (same provider and plan though ). The person did not give a proof of address, and the hospital claims that that is the address and phone number he provided, though I think that they had our address on file as hubby has been to same hospital before. (State is VA)

The hospital has already sent the bill to collection, and now refuse to discuss the case with us, saying that if this is someone else's bill then they cannot discuss it with us...

1. What recourse do we have? Can the doctor really take in someone without proof of address? Isn't the patient liable for signing with the incorrect address?

2. If the bill goes to collection, will it go by our name and address or by the provided social which is of the namesake person. Does the collection agency let us know when they post something to our credit report?

3. We know the name, social and employer of the namesake person who signed that his residence address is our address which is incorrect. It is the hospitals fault. We are very confused... What next? Thanks for your insights.. Really appreciate it!

If the collection agency contacts you, ask them to validate the debt.

If they refuse to communicate and harass you and post anything on your credit report, sue them and enjoy!

Squeezer99 said: creditboards.com

Thank you for the suggestion to go to creditboards. If I know for sure how they would report to credit bureaus it will make my life simpler. If they are going to report by social, I will let this be. If they are going to report by name, then and only then this would reflect on my report. Husband is on my insurance, so it will report on both our reports.. which would be bad.

Anyhow, thanks for the suggestion. I am hoping that members with similar experience, or insights will speak up.

newbietx said: If the collection agency contacts you, ask them to validate the debt.

If they refuse to communicate and harass you and post anything on your credit report, sue them and enjoy!

Yup - I haven't sued before, and think that this will be a good experience... So not totally out of question... Though would still prefer for this to go away...

nethunter said: I have similar issue. A guy had the same name owed Bank of America several thousand bucks and unfortunately I was harassed by various collection agencies. I called Bank of America and verified my ssn is not involved and asked them to contact the collection agency. So things got back to normal for a while. However, I am pissed to find out a new collection agency now starts to call/write. What are my choices? Could I just ignore it? I don't think they have my ssn so they shouldn't be able to put it on my credit file.

Get a tape recorder - start recording the phone calls. Send debt validation letter saying JUST "I dispute. Please validate". Don't give any excuses or details. If they continue to bother you, sue under the FDCPA. If they are attempting to collect and you are receiving it on a cell phone, that's a violation. If they are calling outside of certain hours, violation. Many others besides that. READ THE FDCPA AND KNOW YOUR RIGHTS!

Here are some links to help you:
http://www.debt-consolidation-credit-repair-service.com/forums/s...
http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs27-debtcoll.htm
http://www.creditinfocenter.com/eBooks/PoorMansClassActionLawsui...
http://www.creditinfocenter.com/rebuild/debt_validation.shtml
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/929297/?start=0
http://www.debtorboards.com/
There's a link on this page to a great PDF where the guy has written on ALL the Case Law: http://www.edcombs.com/CM/Actions/Fair-Debt-Collection.asp

It's not as hard as you think, and once you make one lawsuit, you can do other ones REAL easily. All it takes is the right forms and a trip to the Federal Court building. Most likely, they will just settle and fix all the problems.

I've PMed CN47 before and he has been very helpful.

I would send a letter with all documentation to the hospital's legal department or in-house counsel, threatening them with a lawsuit for fraudulent billing along with compensatory and punitive damages.

1. Have you contacted your insurance company? If not, call them and discuss the issue. They will try to sort out with hospital. If it doesn't work, you may able to open a complaint against hospital through insurance company to your state medical/Insurance board.

It happen to me once, the doctor office didn't agree with payment settled by insurance company and was asking discounted amount from me. Finally I got collection notice, then insurance company jumped in and told me if they don't listen, I can open complaint through them. I was trying to open the complaint but the insurance CSR fixed the problem.

2. If collection agency contact you, first ask them in written to validate the debt.

3. If they harass you through phone, in written ask them to stop calling you ( Cease and Desist letter). Still if they call you, you can sue them and get $5,000.

Do you mean to say that they released medical information to you from a total stranger, not to mention his SSN?

I would contact the agency responsible for enforcing HIPAA right away. If the hospital is so stupid that they cannot recognize and fix a HIPAA violation immediately, nail them.

And I suspect that in the subsequent investigation, your bill will be forgiven.

sounds like the hospital did violated HIPPA by disclosing some other guy's info to you

LtWaldo said: nethunter said: I have similar issue. A guy had the same name owed Bank of America several thousand bucks and unfortunately I was harassed by various collection agencies. I called Bank of America and verified my ssn is not involved and asked them to contact the collection agency. So things got back to normal for a while. However, I am pissed to find out a new collection agency now starts to call/write. What are my choices? Could I just ignore it? I don't think they have my ssn so they shouldn't be able to put it on my credit file.

Get a tape recorder - start recording the phone calls. Send debt validation letter saying JUST "I dispute. Please validate". Don't give any excuses or details. If they continue to bother you, sue under the FDCPA. If they are attempting to collect and you are receiving it on a cell phone, that's a violation. If they are calling outside of certain hours, violation. Many others besides that. READ THE FDCPA AND KNOW YOUR RIGHTS.

Thanks for posting the links. I can say from first hand experience that you shouldn't have any expectations of having a meaningful conversation with the collection agency as it'll probably just raise your blood pressure. My sister-in-law who was visiting from overseas racked up a couple of hospital bills and used my address while she was here. The collection agency couldn't find any record of her since she didn't have a social security or DMV ID so they opted to file a lien against my wife instead. When I called the collection agency to explain, the deadite witch at the other end of the phone accused us of fabricating the existence of my sister-in-law and that my wife was the one who went to the hospital. To complicate matters, the hospital was shutdown and sold off so I couldn't contact the staff. I filed a dispute with Experian and got an email notification a few weeks later notifying me that the lien was taken off my wife's credit report. Hopefully that's the end of the story but I wouldn't put it past the collection agency to try to hassle us again in the future. Dealing with a collection agency can be a nightmare...

codename47 said: sounds like the hospital did violated HIPPA by disclosing some other guy's info to you

Yes, and the fines for HIPPA violations are severe. If memory serves, they could be fined $10,000 for this. Perhaps if you pointed this out to them, or had an attorney write a letter to them to that effect, it might get things cleared up.

Guys, thanks a bunch for your inputs.. I did not know about HIPPA, and now look forward to the next round of communications on Monday!! Will keep updating the thread....

GreenQueen said: Guys, thanks a bunch for your inputs.. I did not know about HIPPA, and now look forward to the next round of communications on Monday!! Will keep updating the thread....STOP SPEAKING TO ANYONE.

Get their mailing addresses, send dispute letters, and thats it.

I would include a bit more detail in my dispute letter than just saying "I dispute, please validate." Since this bill isnt for you, but someone else with the same name, there is no harm explaining they are contacting the wrong person, and that you did not receive any services from the hopsital they are trying to collect.

Otherwise, without them knowing the problem is that they are contacting the wrong person, with different social #, birth date, employer and health insurance policy number , they might respond by simply sending whatever their computer spits out to "validate" and continue harassing you.

If they do continue harassing you after this written dispute, then sue.

groundhogdaze said: Thanks for posting the links. I can say from first hand experience that you shouldn't have any expectations of having a meaningful conversation with the collection agency as it'll probably just raise your blood pressure.

Agreed. When my mother died things were tied up for a while and the collection agencies were calling. I tried explaining to one moron the situation--there was plenty of money to pay the bills but my hands were tied until I had the approval of the court to pay the bills. She wanted m to make a payment anyway. I explained to her that I was caught between collection agencies that from a practical standpoint could do nothing and the court that had the power to throw me in jail for contempt. Who do you think I was going to obey? Collection agency moron said that it would harm my mother's credit rating. You think a dead person cares???

GreenQueen said:

PS: They are expecting me to send copy of my social, drivers license, insurance card, and a certified letter showing what my signature is to prove I am not him...

What a wonderful idea. Of course, these incredibly efficient people would NEVER mishandle any of your confidential information, right?

They may be complete morons and a pain to work with, but ya gotta admire their lack of embarassment.

GreenQueen said: SIS... I sent them a letter with the exact same details... Saying, not my bill... You have the wrong person, this is a case of mistaken identity... and they wrote back saying.. You signed it... Here is your signature... which was ofcourse, the other guys signature...

Hence, I was here... asking... now what? I think I have enough material now to make one more call on Monday... If they want to still send it to collections... let them...

PS: They are expecting me to send copy of my social, drivers license, insurance card, and a certified letter showing what my signature is to prove I am not him...File a HIPPA complaint the the Office of Civil Rights. They have complaint instructions and a package here. Then send a copy to the the hospital administration (and I guess collectors). See if that nips it. Alternatively, follow the CN47 method and file a lawsuit to make a few bucks (then file the HIPPA complaint, because they deserve it for disclosing the medical information).

It is HIPAA, not HIPPA

Well, so here is what happened:

Called the hospital... They were much more open to listening once I mentioned HIPAA... (Big thanks to FW!!!) Finally they pulled up accounts by husbands policy number and realized the goof up. They said they will fix the issue ASAP and put a freeze on the credit bureau reporting. The manager is supposed to call us back once everything is resolved.

In parallel, received the first collections notice y'day... and it gives me 30 days to dispute with the bureau. Will send back a reply to that with case details, and hopefully this is behind us. If I do receive a 2nd collections notice, will report it as a HIPAA violation. Does that sound fine?

I should probably report this as a HIPAA violation... as I wouldn't be happy if they had shared my details with some one else so callously... but still on the fence on that one. What would you guys have done?

Thanks a bunch people!

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