So, today I received a call from the number 1-484-971-4948. I did not answer, but a voicemail was left. A woman mentioned my resent visit to the local hospital and said to call this number: 1-800-353-1380, to see if I qualify for government programs to help pay the bill. I already received a letter from my health insurance that they do not cover the visit, so I thought it sounded legitimate.
I called the number she gave, and the same woman who left the message answered. She explained that it was a program to see if people qualify for assistance on medical bills. She said I can see if I qualify in person at the hospital or over the phone. I said lets do it over the phone. She asked me to confirm my date of birth, address, phone number (which they already had) and state of birth. She also asked if I currently had health insurance (but did not ask the insurance company) through my employer or otherwise.
Then it hit me that this might not be legit, so I told her my concern, and she repeated that I can do it in person and also gave me a number with a local area code that she said was for the local hospital (and she did mention the hospital by name) and gave me the name of the person listed in that department and an account number.
I googled the phone numbers, but I didn’t really see anything pointing either way. I did not call the final number she gave me. But I googled it and couldn’t find anything on it, which doesn’t really mean anything. And I don’t see a point in calling, because if it is a scam, that could be part of it.
So, if it was a scam, am i in danger from anything? Can I do anything?
Should I go to the hospital with the info and see what they say? (I would rather not go this route though)
That webpage gives an email address in the chs.net domain and if you look at that site (for Community Health Systems, Inc), they list their affiliated hospitals including six in Pennsylvania, with one in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Isn’t that where you live (based on your earlier thread about shopping for a suit)?
You can also call the hospital and ask if they’ve heard of these people. Presumably the hospital referred your case to them. ETA: Also presumably the hospital has their employees somewhere on-site.
When worried about a scam like this the correct thing to do is look up the phone number independently and call the number you looked up. In this case I’d find the hospital main line, call and ask the operator for either the department or person you were referred to. They will be able to help you if its a scam or not.
Thank you for the advice. I didn’t think it was a scam, but then it hit me that I can’t be sure. I think I just wanted someone else to tell me that it seems legit.
So Community Hospital System is a large for profit hospital group out of somewhere in Tennessee. It makes perfect sense that they would have a set-up like this, helping you pay the bills helps them to collect on the bills. So pretty sure it is not a scam. However, I cannot see how this is not a HUGE HIPAA violation. Not only just the fact the the caller has a ton of your medical info, but that a voicemail was left concerning it.
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The caller was either an employee or contractor for the hospital system, so HIPAA authorizes her to have the information necessary to do her job: patient’s name/address/DOB, dates of stay, and likely the total amount of the bill. The caller wouldn’t need detailed medical info, but there’s no indication she had such information either.
You say"confirm"—, do you mean that she already had the info, and just asked you to say “yes”??
This seems legit.
Or did she not have your personal data, and she asked you to provide it.?
That could be phishing.
And if she already has you personal data, then (if she’s a scammer),she could have already used it.
You saying “yes” wont really make much difference.
Also,if it was a phishing scam,what specific details did she ask for? The ones you mention (date and place of birth, address and phone number)don’t seem enough to do you damage.That’s all pretty easy to find on the internet. Now, if you also gave your bank info, (or if she was about to ask for it before you cut the call short), then that’s a huge red flag.
Following the distribution of new medicare identifiers earlier this year, this shouldn’t be such a big problem. The new numbers can only be used to scam Medicare and possibly secondary health insurance plans; the old number was your Social Security identifier and could be used to open lines of credit, etc.
It is still a good idea to be careful who you give your number to, but the stakes aren’t quite as high.