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fact that you have lodged a dispute should also be revealed if a negative report is made to your credit report.
Can my medical information be disclosed to a collector or a credit reporting agency? HIPAA says the healthcare provider or health plan may disclose only the following information about you to a collection agency or credit bureau:
• Name and address
• Date of birth
• Social Security number
• Payment history
• Account number
• Name and address of the one claiming the debt
Of course, the name of the healthcare provider may contain clues to the medical condition of you or members of your family. Recent amendments to the federal FCRA enacted by Congress in 2003, the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, change the way medical collections appear in credit reports. The names of healthcare providers must be masked if they would disclose the type of medical condition for which you sought care. For more about medical information and new FACTA rules, see PRC Fact Sheet 6(a), www .privacyrights .org/ fs/fs6a-facta .htm#7
Do I have a right to dispute a medical collection? You can always dispute a medical bill with your healthcare provider or health plan. You can also dispute inaccurate information included in your credit report. For more on disputing inaccurate information in your credit report, see the FTC publication, How to Dispute Credit Report Errors, at www .ftc .gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre21 .htm.
A debt collector called me after an identity thief got medical treat- ment under my name . What should I do? Medical identity theft is a largely unreported type of identity theft. This type of identity theft
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