Carilion mistakenly sends out collection notices
Updated with new details at 12:21 p.m.
Phone lines are down at Carilion Clinic’s collection agency after thousands of letters were sent out earlier this week for bills that were already paid.
The letters were sent to patients of New River Valley Radiology, which joined Carilion in early 2009.
“This week, an old disk containing a list of the practice’s uncollected accounts from that time period was mistakenly used by our collection agency, which distributed about 9,000 letters,” Carilion spokesman Eric Earnhart said in an email. “We believe many of those accounts had already been paid and were not past due.”
Carilion’s collection agency, SCA Credit Services, has put all the accounts on hold while it seeks to address the error, Earnhart said. Read more here.
Julie Wheeler, president of the Better Business Bureau of Western Virginia, said, in general, anytime you get a collection notice for something you have previously paid you should dispute it in writing.
In this instance, she recommended that people wait for further communication from Carilion.
“I would just sit tight and enjoy the Memorial Day weekend and see what Carilion says,” she said.
She also recommended people check their credit report in a month, noting that everyone should check their credit report annually. She said she was unsure if a collection notice for medical charges would appear on a credit report.
Earnhart said the notices should not impact anyone’s credit report.
“It is my understanding that this letter was intended to be an initial notification that a balance existed,” he said. “There has been no communication regarding these accounts to the credit reporting agencies, so there should be no impact on anyone’s credit report.”
May 25, 2012 - 11:32 AM
“I would just sit tight and enjoy the Memorial Day weekend and see what Carilion says,” she said.
Haha that’s great advice. Rely on the big company to tell you how to respond to their billing and collections errors.
Do they think they can just make up excuses and lie to cover up their stupidy? Their press release states “New River Valley Radiology, which joined Carilion in early 2009″ and “practice’s uncollected accounts from that time period.”
First, the bill I received was for services in July 2010, not in 2009. Second, the bill was paid upon receipt, so how could it have been on and “uncollected” list?
I wonder how other people feel that told a friend or relative about the bill only to have a press release come out stated it was an “uncollected” account. Very embrassing!
@cakelady I’ve heard similar accounts from others about the bills being from after 2009. I do know that Carilion has said some bills were from 2010, but I haven’t been told why 2010 bills were also part of this.
Hurray! Carilion does it again, bean counters make mistake and worry people. Will there be an apology?
@Anacreon I think this is the letter that Carilion plans to send out is the apology. Here is what Carilion said on its website: “We are very sorry for the error and will be sending a letter to all patients involved with an explanation and apology.”
Here is a link to what Carilion has posted online: http://www.carilionclinic.org/blogs/newsblog/2012/05/25/notice-to-patients-regarding-recent-radiology-billing-statement/
Would make the President and Members of the National Healthcare Collectors Association proud, wouldn’t it?
Sarah, you ought to give the President of that association a call and ask him if this is standard procedure and how he’d handle such a mistake.
@Lakeshore The executive director of the National Healthcare Collectors Association is Ken Smith, who I believe is the director of Carilion’s collection company, SCA Credit Services. The president of the association is from New Jersey but my guess is he works closely with Ken Smith.
Just wait until the GOVERNMENT has all your personal information and is running EVERYTHING!
ObamaCare will make this look like a walk in the park.
I received one of those letters for service dated Aug 2010. I spent nearly 2 hours Thursday night digging out my old medical billing records….which proved that my insurance company paid their portion and that I paid my portion of the bill in September 2010. I intend to bill Carilion for my time. They will get a past due notice 31 days later if I am not paid, and on day 61, I’ll turn them over to a collection agency!
The letter my wife got was for services in July 2010.
The reason services in 2010 were included in the collection letters is because when New River Valley Radiology joined Carilion, “billing for the practice continued to be handled by a third party vendor for about a year and a half,” according to Carilion spokesman Eric Earnhart.
I’m sorry but I cannot see why accounts that was/were paid by the patient’s insurance companies ended up at Carilions’s collection agency. First of all, these accounts should have been billed to the patient, if the insurance did not pay, in 2009 or 2010, not 2 or 3 years later. At this point if the patient did not pay their balance, it would have been turned over to the collection agency. Also, I know Medicaid patients received the collection letters with balances that the medical providers are required to write off. I am included in the 9000 collection letters mailed out and if this can happen in 2012 then the system is broken and definitely needs to be fixed. I hope the people who believed the bills to be legitimate and sent money to pay gets their reimbursements paid back in a timely manner with “sufficient” interest.