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If doctor's office refuses to provide the patient ledger

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jjayjay

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Maryland

Ok, no doctor's office in U.S. are under obligation to mail you the patient invoice as they don't have to while the patients have the obligation to pay all the balance whether the docs office invoices them or not.

This docs office sent the balance with (over 1200% increase) to a collection agency which they never invoiced me for. Had they invoice me, I would have paid as the amount was not too bad after the insurance write-offs and insurance payments. I paid this grossly inflated amount to the collection agency.

I email docs office to mail me the patient ledger as I want to pay any other balance that's on my account if there are any other left. I then call the them, and they told me they forwarded my email to their billing dept so I need to wait 1 or 2 days to hear from the billing dept. I later found out they have no billing dept as they do their own billing, and they forwarded my email requesting patient ledger to the collection agency. I called again to ask them to give me the phone # for their billing dept, and they gave me the # for the collection agency. They added once the paitent account goes out of their system, they have no way of finding out if there is any balances left on the account. so I have to talk to their billing dept which is they themselves while referring me to collection agency as their billing dept.

Collection agency says they have no way of knowing if there are any other balances as they only collect what the docs office sends them, and I will have to find that info from docs office.

I think I will have to make a trip to the docs office in person. I will have all the EOBs from the insurance company, and the invoices they sent me with the payment confirmation (docs office had mailed some invoices, not all the invoices), and if there are any other balances, pay them in person, and get an invoice with zero dollar balance. However since they have BSed me, this is stressing me out. I am looking for your advice as to how best to settle this situation.

Collection agency said they don't report to Credit Bureaus for medical bills provided I made prompt payment per collection notice from them.
 


swalsh411

Senior Member
I don't understand. It seems like you're on a fishing expedition looking for money you owe. Who does that?
 

jjayjay

Junior Member
I don't understand. It seems like you're on a fishing expedition looking for money you owe. Who does that?
I have no interest in making a point on this board, but should I not be finding out if there are any other money the docs office may claim I owe them because they can again sell that amount to collection agency with over 1,200 percent increase? That is why I asked docs office for a patient ledger, but they are BSing me by keep referring me to the collection agency they contract with as their billing office.

(On a side note, this is why all docs office in U.S. will collect your SSN and your driver's license as acceptable picture ID. So they have you fully on the hook if something like this happens.)
 
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Antigone*

Senior Member
I have no interest in making a point on this board, but should I not be finding out if there are any other money the docs office may claim I owe them because they can again sell that amount to collection agency with over 1,200 percent increase? That is why I asked docs office for a patient ledger, but they are BSing me by keep referring me to the collection agency they contract with as their billing office.

(On a side note, this is why all docs office in U.S. will collect your SSN and your driver's license as acceptable picture ID. So they have you fully on the hook if something like this happens.)
Obviously the debt has been sold to the collection agency and the doctor's office no longer wishes to deal with the matter.
 

jjayjay

Junior Member
Obviously the debt has been sold to the collection agency and the doctor's office no longer wishes to deal with the matter.
That could be true, but if that is the case why is the collection agency saying they have no info as to if there are any other balances left unless the docs office is contracting with multiple collection agencies which I don't think so because they are not large enough as the collection agency says. So do I simply wait to see if any other notice(s) from any collection agency comes in the mail?
 

swalsh411

Senior Member
You have no legal right to force the doctors office to disclose to you whether or not they have sold any debt you supposedly owed them to a collection agency.
 

jjayjay

Junior Member
You have no legal right to force the doctors office to disclose to you whether or not they have sold any debt you supposedly owed them to a collection agency.
I already know at least some of the amount they sold to a collection agency, but that is not what I'm trying to do as aim trying find out if there are any other balance left that needs to be paid by obtaining my patient ledger. I'm trying to pay any other balances, if there are any, ASAP so I can end this issue before it snowballs into a bigger issue.

However, I think I will have to agree with your statement as that seems to make sense even though they started this issue by not invoicing me as you have to surrender your rights to dispute by signing on the financial policy designed in their favor to be seen by their doctor, but what about the patient ledger? If I don't even have the rights to patient ledger, do I simply wait to see if any other ax will fall on my feet and pay whatever the collection agency will claim as having been forwarded to them?

The collection agency seemed to be sympathetic to this situation even though they did their job by collecting from me, but why do they have no info as to if there are any other balances forwarded to them?
 
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swalsh411

Senior Member
Why would they not bill you for amounts you owe? That's not how a business operates. Hence my "fishing expedition" comment.

It's natural to worry about bills especially in a tough economy. However you seem fixated on bills that may not even exist.
 

jjayjay

Junior Member
Why would they not bill you for amounts you owe? That's not how a business operates. Hence my "fishing expedition" comment.
If you read my previous post, they had not invoiced/billed me which was their error. Based on how they transacted business with me (not billing the patient and sending the balance to the collection agency at over 1200 percent increase), I can't trust them to not err again hence the patient ledger or an invoice showing zero dollar balance remaining is needed to end this issue.
 
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jjayjay

Junior Member
I have to wait until Sunday night as the insurance company is doing website maintenance so I can't retrieve the EOBs right now. If anyone else had similar experience as docs office not billing the patient and selling the balance does not seem to be uncommon, how were you able to settle the issue? I have paid what the collection agency has charged so far.
 
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Proserpina

Senior Member
I have to wait until Sunday night as the insurance company is doing website maintenance so I can't retrieve the EOBs right now. If anyone else had similar experience as docs office not billing the patient and selling the balance does not seem to be uncommon, how were you able to settle the issue? I have paid what the collection agency has charged so far.

It honestly doesn't matter what someone else has experienced - specially not with insurance and billing issues.
 

jjayjay

Junior Member
It honestly doesn't matter what someone else has experienced - specially not with insurance and billing issues.
Again, I'm not trying to make a point on this board, but other people's experience can serve as a reference, advice and information as sharing of information should be the purpose of any online forum as this one. However, you seem to be implying that the insurance and medical billing system is so seriously messed up so anything can happen to anyone, and you opinion is well taken.
 

Proserpina

Senior Member
Again, I'm not trying to make a point on this board, but other people's experience can serve as a reference, advice and information as sharing of information should be the purpose of any online forum as this one. However, you seem to be implying that the insurance and medical billing system is so seriously messed up so anything can happen to anyone, and you opinion is well taken.

It goes to individual plans, states, plans within states, company plans within states, what an individual provider's policy may be, what the CA's policy may be....it's ALL so variable.

I'm not saying this to be difficult - truly, I'm not.
 

OHRoadwarrior

Senior Member
Sooooooo......

Why don't you do what everyone else does and reconcile the insurance statements, showing the balance you owe. Presto, you have the amount you owe each provider.
 

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