[nayadi]

Hello Trish,
I found your contact on here after browsing about the hippa process. I'm in a bit of a difficult situation and would really appreciate your help.

I've posted about my problem in other forums and haven't received a definitive answer yet. Would you mind viewing my post below and offering some advice? Thank you very very much.

Post 1
Hello,

I found out this week that $132 in medical bills was sent to collections while I was home for a month recovering from surgery a week after I moved to a new address. Because of the move I believe that some bills did not reach me as I didn't file a change of address until a month later later due to my recovery. I was also not notified that the account was going to collections. However these collections have not been reported on my report but according to the CA they will soon.

When I called the hospital/OC, they were ready to take a payment over the phone but advised it would payments would post quicker with the CA. Here are my questions:

1) Does this mean they have assigned and not sold the debt to the CA?

2) The person at billing with the OC said something about me having a 30-day period during which I could have prevented it from going on my CR. I think I only missed this by a few days. Does this make any difference?

3) I'm ready to PFD if this is the best way to go so they don't make it on to my report. Should I GW both the hospital and CA also? And is there a difference between PFD and GW in this case? From what you've said it sounds like a GW is only good IF i've already paid of the collection or charge-off.

4) Would it help to try and deal with the hospital or doctor directly to prevent them from going on my CR?

Post 2 (posted today)
Hello again,

I called the hospitals to settle the bill today based on advice from the forum. They said since it has been sent to collections they can't receive a payment. However one hospital was willing to accept a payment but only after checking on the interests and other adjustments with the CA. Would this still be paying directly to the OC and will it keep if off my report? For the other hospital that will completely not accept a payment (and probably for both at this point), I'm thinking of just sending the HIPPA letter. Please let me know if this is still the way to go as I'm very confused. I also received a call from the CA today asking about the debt and I told that them I will be speaking directly to the hospital. What bothers me is that this is a small debt (132) but because of work travel and surgery I could not get it paid on time. Please help! Would it help to talk directly to the related doctors? I'm worried that if I don't make a payment or take action before the end of the month it'll end up on my CR this coming month.