Consumer complaint received 2023-12-27
Product: Debt collection — Medical debt
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action — Threatened or suggested your credit would be damaged
Company: Synerprise Consulting Services, Inc. (TX)

On XX/XX/2023, XXXX XXXX from XXXX XXXX XXXX participated in my care. 

On XXXX XX/XX/XXXX at approximately XXXX XXXX I logged into their website ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ) which was listed on a bill with a total of {$1000.00} dated/printed XXXX XXXX 2023. 

Upon creating a profile & logging into the account ( # XXXX ), the top of the page had a notice, " You have bills in collections.There are bills in your account that are now in collections. '' Below that was two rows with XX/XX/XXXX, but blank amount owed. 

I reached out to their on page chat support, & the following conversation with agent " XXXX '' confirmed that I was never sent any itemized bills, that it is two separate bills ( {$490.00} & {$530.00} respectively ), and that both are in the collection of an agency entitled Synerprise Consulting Services ( https : //www.synerpriseconsulting.com is their official website, which states on their website, " Synerprise Consulting Services is a debt collection agency for healthcare clients and we have a mentality that these are also our patients. '' ) According to A new Texas law requires health care providers to send an itemized bill before the account can be sent to collections. The itemized bill must contain " plain language descriptions '' of the services provided. As of XX/XX/2023, the Texas Health & Human Services Commission was developing rules to implement this new law. 

Texas Law Texas Health & Safety Code, Chapter 185, as of XX/XX/2023 which requires health care providers provide specific information to patients before their medical debt can be sent to a collection agency. 

Quoting from the law : " Sec. 185.002. ITEMIZED BILL REQUIRED. ( a ) A health care provider that requests payment from a patient after providing a health care service or related supply to the patient shall submit with the request a written, itemized bill of the alleged cost of each service and supply provided to the patient during the patient 's visit to the provider. '' As confirmed by the chat from the online assistant, I never was sent/recieved any itemized bills and these two bills are in fact in collections. This is against the law as cited above.

Pasted below is the noted portion of our conversation, but timestamped screenshots of the entire discussion are also available upon request. 

" I just wanted to know if one was sent. 
XXXX  An itemized statement has not been sent to you For the XX/XX/XXXX date of service? 
XXXX Would you like to request for an itemized an statement to be sent to you? 
I am seeing that two bills from XX/XX/XXXX have been sent to collections with account number XXXX, is this correct? 
XXXX Give me one moment to look thank you XXXX You're welcome, there is two bills I that are in collections with for date of service XX/XX/2023 Okay, were they sent to collections as separate bills or a single bill? Also please let me know the amount ( s ) owed if combined or separate, thanks! 
XXXX minutes ago XXXX  There is two separate bills the bill for XXXX is {$490.00} and for the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  is {$530.00}, insurance applied to balance to your responsibility for XXXX the bills have been sent to Synerprise Consulting Services XXXX Is there anything else I can help you with today? 
please give me a moment I am reviewing What is Synerprise Consulting Services? 
XXXX This is the collection agency Ok, are they owned by XXXX XXXX XXXX? Can the bills be taken out of collections? 
XXXX They are owed by XXXX XXXX XXXX, we can not pull bill from collections as we had not received payment and we had sent paper bills to your mailing address I'm sorry I want to be clear- they are OWNED or OWED? Also may I ask the official mailing address & phone number for both XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Synerprise Consulting services so I can discuss this issue with both respective parties? 
XXXX I apologize they are owned by XXXX XXXX XXXX. 
The mailing address for XXXX XXXX XXXX is XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, TX XXXX the phone number is ( XXXX ) XXXX I have called the phone number XXXX before asking for the itemized bill but all that has been sent is regular bill, which is why I was surprised to find out today upon logging in that they are in collections : ( XXXX Synerprise Consulting Services phone number is ( XXXX ) XXXX I do not have an address for them. 
You don't have a legal address for Synerprise Consulting Services? 
XXXX I do not have an address for Synerprise Consulting Services Thank you so to confirm I need to contact who? 
XXXX To obtain Synerprise Consulting Services address you may want to contact them to the phone number I have provided earlier. 
Ok, thank you. '' <Conversation END> Our conversation finished around XXXX, approximately 1hr total, and including my research, time calling on the phone, I have spent approximately 10hrs in total working on this issue ( so far ). 

As such, I am reporting that XXXX XXXX XXXX did not follow the law & broke the rules of the above law at least twice, as is the current collection agency Synerprise Consulting Services. 

I am requesting : - debt collection be ceased immediately- all compensation appropriate for the time & effort to resolve this issue be forwarded to me immediately.