Consumer complaint received 2019-07-21
Company: Healthcare Collections-I, LLC
State: AZ
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Medical debt
Issue: Written notification about debt
Sub-issue: Didn't receive notice of right to dispute

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I returned from a vacation to find a collection bill in my mailbox. I was shocked because I did not know about this outstanding bill. When I called the collection agency on XX/XX/XXXX, I found out that the bill was from service that was performed on XX/XX/XXXX. This was an XXXX  that I had for treatment of my XXXX XXXX. My physician had obtained a prior authorization prior to beginning the XXXX in XXXX of XXXX. During the conversation with the collection agency, the representative stated that he could see that I was not billed for the date of service except right after the service was completed in XX/XX/XXXX before it was billed to the insurance. The representative stated he could not see any additional bills being sent to me. As I continued to investigate, I found that the last denial from the insurance company was done on XX/XX/XXXX. The collection agency admitted that they had received the file from XXXX XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX but did not send anything to me until the end of XX/XX/XXXX. 
The issues that I have with this is that I had prior authorization giving us the approval to have the infusions completed. The insurance denial on XX/XX/XXXX showed that the billing department did not include the authorization number and on XX/XX/XXXX the denial stated not deemed medical necessity yet I received prior authorization stating it was approved. The facility failed to bill the insurance with the necessary documentation allowing it to be paid in full. Because the collection agency sat on the bill for the 180-day parking time it took away my ability to appeal the claim with the insurance company and get the bill paid. Additionally, if there were any uncovered costs the facility was to bill it to the pharmaceutical company who would have picked up any uncovered costs but because of the failure to bill the insurance company the pharmaceutical company was unable to pay the uncovered costs as well. 
I am including with this letter the documents showing the approval prior authorization letter, the denial letters from the insurance company, additional EOBs showing different dates of services for the same infusion showing payment and information on XXXX XXXX   from the pharmaceutical company. I do not feel that we should have to pay this bill since it was an error on the facilities part in billing it to the insurance correctly as well as their delay in notifying me prevented me from being able to appeal it and get the services covered by the insurance. Also as soon as I contacted the Collection company they immediately placed it on my credit as a derogatory claim going back to the time that they received the claim in XX/XX/XXXX. 
Any help you can give me to get this claim off my credit and preventing the facility from pursuing this further would be appreciated.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation