11-22-2016, 12:18 PM
Got a bill in the mail the other day from Hilo Medical Center's billing company in Washington for our insurance co-pay. The service date was over a year ago, November 2015.
We called and inquired because we had a vague recollection of paying it. They said that wouldn't have been possible because the insurance JUST paid their portion so the bill was "new". Confused, we asked them to send supporting documentation.
Their supporting documentation didn't corroborate their story that this was a "new" bill. Our insurance paid their portion in December 2015. With some research on our bank web site I found the check # that showed we paid the co-pay in February 2016 and contacted the bank to get a copy of the cashed check. I also verified that the cashed check had all the correct account numbers it was paying, as well as patient name, on the "memo" line. It would have taken Herculean incompetence for the recipient to mess this up.
I called them today and explained we had a copy of the check they cashed from our bank (both sides of check, of course) and they gave me a fax number and I faxed the copy. Afterwards they "graciously" explained that they would "suspend" my account while they "investigate". When I asked what that meant, they aren't going to proceed into collections during the "investigation".
Are my experiences unique? Maybe I'm just being overly suspicious, but to send somebody a bill over a year after the service (when memories are fading) and give erroneous (or falsified?) information about it being a new bill, then I provide proof that 1) I *had* previously been billed for it and 2) I *paid* it 9 months ago. Something doesn't smell right.
I briefly entertained the idea that Hilo Medical Center's billing company was hacked, and this was a nefarious third party trying to profit, but all their info checks out.
Comments and thread hijacks are not only welcome, but encouraged.
ETA: added suspicion
We called and inquired because we had a vague recollection of paying it. They said that wouldn't have been possible because the insurance JUST paid their portion so the bill was "new". Confused, we asked them to send supporting documentation.
Their supporting documentation didn't corroborate their story that this was a "new" bill. Our insurance paid their portion in December 2015. With some research on our bank web site I found the check # that showed we paid the co-pay in February 2016 and contacted the bank to get a copy of the cashed check. I also verified that the cashed check had all the correct account numbers it was paying, as well as patient name, on the "memo" line. It would have taken Herculean incompetence for the recipient to mess this up.
I called them today and explained we had a copy of the check they cashed from our bank (both sides of check, of course) and they gave me a fax number and I faxed the copy. Afterwards they "graciously" explained that they would "suspend" my account while they "investigate". When I asked what that meant, they aren't going to proceed into collections during the "investigation".
Are my experiences unique? Maybe I'm just being overly suspicious, but to send somebody a bill over a year after the service (when memories are fading) and give erroneous (or falsified?) information about it being a new bill, then I provide proof that 1) I *had* previously been billed for it and 2) I *paid* it 9 months ago. Something doesn't smell right.
I briefly entertained the idea that Hilo Medical Center's billing company was hacked, and this was a nefarious third party trying to profit, but all their info checks out.
Comments and thread hijacks are not only welcome, but encouraged.
ETA: added suspicion
