[Image: A tweet from @akatookey, which reads: “funzies tip for my friends with medical debt; when collectors hound you, demand an itemized invoice.
If they don’t give you one, you have grounds to contest the debt.
If they do give you one, someone violated HIPAA and you can contest the debt.“]Now here is some ding-danged useful information! Another user pointed out that over half of small debt collectors lack this information because they buy their debts in bulk for cheap and in return get really disorganized paperwork. They encourage folks to look up “debt validation letter” online to get more information on this.
This tidbit was sourced from The Debt Resistor’s Operations Manual by Strike Debt and Occupy Wall Street, a free resource many readers will want to have a closer look at. Download it here!
a very important note from your friendly neighborhood health care buzzkill:
if the debt collection agency is a covered entity within or associated with the medical provider– which can include collection agencies, as entities identified as healthcare clearinghouses, or “entities that process nonstandard health information they receive from another entity into a standard (i.e., standard electronic format or data content), or vice versa”– then this will not work. while hospitals or providers will often outsource their collections or sell their debt to non-covered entities, in which case this trick might work*, if they have not done that and the collection agency is a part of the existing provider system or organization, then they will legally be able to provide you an itemized bill upon request.
so! if you have a collector coming after you for debt, do your research and see if you can find out if they’re part of the medical provider’s organization. if it’s a large hospital or physician network, there’s a solid chance that they are. in that case, receipt of an itemized bill will not be a hipaa violation. if they aren’t, however, then have at it and godspeed and good luck to you.