ER doctor collection tactics

[deslock]

What is the name of your state? Texas

My son was run over by a truck while being dropped off at school. He was taken to the emergency room, treated, and released. Since it was an MVA, the automobile insurance paid for the bill. I got a bill from Range Physicians, and I explained that it was an MVA, the hospital had all information,, they said not to worry, it would be taken care of. 3 years later, I start having a collection agency report on my Credit Report that I had an account in collections. When I called the collection agency, they told me it was about this debt. I explained the situation again, but the collection agency was only interested in when I was going to pay the debt. I did not receive any correspondence from the original creditor or the collection agency before being placed as delinquint. I have been turned down for credit because of this. I tried to get it removed from my credit reports, but as soon as it is removed, the collection agency reports it again and it is back on. What can I do?

 

[stephenk]

how about pay the debt? Or contact your auto insurance carrier and find out if they had paid the doctor.

 

[deslock]

pay the debt because this company didn't file the insurance like they were supposed to? had they done their job correctly, they would have been paid. it was not my insurance company that paid, it was the driver of the truck. the hospital was paid, the followup with the doctor was paid, the only bill not paid was the ER doctor. their negligence, not mine.

 

[djohnson]

Contact the hospital and see why it wasn't paid. It may have been declined for some reason or there may have been a deductible. They should be able to pull our file and tell what was paid why. If it was their error see what they offer.

 

[deslock]

I did contact the hospital, I used to work there and am familiar with the procedure. The hospital was paid. The information was sent to the ER physician's billing service(ER physicians do their own billing, they are contracted). I called them after they sent me a bill and thought things were straightened out. The next time I hear about it, it is already turned to a collection agency and reported to credit reporting bureaus as a delinquint account.

 

[goliath1]

Weather it was their error or not in the filing of insurance, it still falls back on you as the responsible party. First you should contact the reporting agency that has it on your credit record and contest the charge. This will open up an investigation. Second you should contact the ER Doctor with all of the insurance information and find out if they billed the insurance company. If not then you need to explain the situation again and have them bill the company. If they refuse then you should pay the bill and bill the insurance company yourself. If they have billed the insurance company already find out why it was declined. Call the insurance company yourself.