Did I mess up HIPAA process already?

[ucfknight]

I am brand new to the board. I had excellent credit. We are refinancing. I have 2 paid medical bills from 5/07 on my report. I had no idea. I had been in constant communication with the OC, CA and insurance company before paying the bills. They should have never been reported. I just found this website. I don't know if I have already screwed up the HIPAA process.

CREDCO provided a CR to our lender. I told CREDCO I want to dispute. I contacted the CA and they refused to remove it because of their "guidelines" not because they don't feel that it should be removed.

So, now I find all these websites about HIPAA. I pulled my free "federal" Experian credit report last night. The 2 accounts in question list the CA. It also shows them as medical and paid. It does list the OC (my hospital) plus other info. It already shows that the accounts are being investigated.

Has the relationship with OC and CA already been established? Do I start with the Dispute letter anyway? Why the special fonts?

[94B]

Originally Posted by ucfknight

I don't know if I have already screwed up the HIPAA process.

Not sure how you can screw up a process you haven't really started yet.

Originally Posted by ucfknight

So, now I find all these websites about HIPAA. I pulled my free "federal" Experian credit report last night. The 2 accounts in question list the CA. It also shows them as medical and paid.

Paid to whom???

Originally Posted by ucfknight

It does list the OC (my hospital) plus other info. It already shows that the accounts are being investigated.

Why does it show that??? Did you dispute these accounts?

Originally Posted by ucfknight

Do I start with the Dispute letter anyway?

Have you done the credit repair basics? If not, then do that FIRST.Also, if you plan on using the free credit report to dispute, they(CRA's) have 45 days to respond to your dispute instead of 30 days. Once you've done that, then send the medical dispute letter to the CRA(s) reporting these accounts.

Originally Posted by ucfknight

Why the special fonts?

According to the person who designed the HIPAA program, the purpose is to prevent the automated reading and response by computer programs.

You could also do it hand written on yellow blue lined legal pad paper.

[ucfknight]

I felt I had screwed up the process because I started my own process prior to reading all this stuff. Some of what I have done conflicts with the very specific HIPAA process. 1) I already disputed via phone through a 3rd party reporting agency. 2) I contacted via phone directly the CA to dispute.

Paid to whom....it has been so long I didn't know. So, I pulled out my credit card summary from 2007. The payments are listed to the OC.

Yes, I had already started the dispute (read my post) via phone to CREDCO who reported to my lender. CREDCO filed the dispute for me. So, I did not dispute using the special letter. But, online these accounts list a lot of the information needed to establish the OC and CA relationship. I don't know where I would be classified in the HIPAA process.

Credit repair basics? I did Opt-out. What else? Removing personal information even if true like what?

Thanks!

[94B]

The link below tells you what else and why.

Basic Step by Step Beginner's Guide to Credit Repair

Since you have a third party doing things on your behalf regarding items on your CR, it's very difficult to give advice pertaining to your situation.

And since you already have active disputes out right now via this third party, you have wait and see what those results are.

The HIPAA process isn't something you can tackle along with whatever this other third party is doing for you. It's a separate process on its own and HAS to be followed exactly as written to get the deletion you want.

If you were to do the HIPAA Process it would require that the third party involved to not be involved in the disputing of these medical accounts. You would basically have to start from the beginning(as outlined in the process).Otherwise it would be pointless.