DOLA on CRs

[HeartRN]

This is my first time posting. I just want to say these boards are amazing. I've spent the last two days reading and I'm still not caught up!! I started pulling CRs about a year ago on a monthly basis when I decided to try to clean things up. But I'm confused about how to find the DOLA on some. I have one particular CA with four different accounts from a hospital stay that is confusing me. I was in the hospital in 5/2000. Insurance paid most, but I was unable to pay the balance at that time. I never paid anything out of my pocket on those bills, and never spoke to anyone at the hospital about paying or with anyone at the CA. (If I ignore it, it will go away!!) So what is my DOLA on this? A CR I pulled yesterday from EX shows:

Status: Collection account. $493 past due as of 9-2003.

Date opened: 10/2002

Reported since: 9/2003

Type: Installment

Date of status: 9/2003

Last reported: 9/2003

Terms: 1 Months

Yet on a CR pulled 6/2004 from EQ, it clearly shows a DOLA of 1/2001. Should I use the DOLAs from this CR, since they are clearly marked?

Thanks!!

[PayCutHurtMe]

The DOLA of 1/2001 should be about right.

[retmar]

The DOLA would be based on the "Date of First Delinquency" on your EQ. The "Reported Since" on your EX.

Your care was in 5/2000, then your carrier paid their part and the balance due was your responsibility. This is how I read your question. If this is true, then the DOLA should correspond with the date they received payment from your carrier. On ours when I first saw them, the date of service and the DOLA were 1 month apart, which when I got my copies of the EOB's, was proven to be true. Therefore, you need to look at your EOB and see what the date is, then add so many days for snail mail, or transfer of funds, as sometimes the payments are done electronically. They should, if there were no problems with the claim, be one month apart. I say this as most carriers pay within 30 days as most claims are filed electronically. You can call your carrier and ask for copies of the EOB's to check that the amounts are correct, excluding any added interest and fees. What you want to look for are "mutually exclusive" items, or items not your responsibility. Too many times a provider will error and/or attempt to rip off the beneficiary by billing them for items they shouldn't.

[HeartRN]

The DOLA would be based on the "Date of First Delinquency" on your EQ. The "Reported Since" on your EX.

If that is correct, then something isn't right here. The CA handling these medical bills has a "Reported Since" date of 09/2003 on EX, yet the DOLA on EQ for the same account is in 2001. Since I was hospitalized in 05/00, and I know insurance paid the hospital during that same year, how can the DOLA for this account be in 2003 when I have made no contact with them whatsoever?

[Corrine]

The "reported date" is just that. It's the date this particular CA decided to report it to the CRA. That's not the same thing as the DOLA.

[retmar]

corrine, I think you missed what was asked. On your EX CR, the DOLA will appear as the "reported since" date. The "date opened" is the date it was assigned. The "date of status" could represent the date of service, if medical, the date the reporting party last updated which will also be the same as "last reported".

On an old EX and most current, it shows like this for 2 TL's, one neg and one pos. Fortunately, no negs on current CR's.

Neg: DO/RS: 5/95 (assigned date) /11/94 (date of payment, Medical)

DS/LR: 10/94 (date of service) /11/95 (last reported)

Pos: DO/RS: 1/93 (CC opened) /2/93 (1st reported)

DS/LR: 12/04 / 12/04

HeartRN, yes, there is a problem. The best way, in my opinion, is to dispute with the CRA and have them check the DOLA. Just say that it is incorrect, then insert the correct dates. Do not send copies of other CR's as they won't accept them. If it comes back verified, then let us know and we can go from there. It will involve you creating a letter to the reporting party as to their violations, and how you want it to be corrected, etc. ,or else. Mind you, most times a CA will verify dates as the CRA's do not specifically word your dispute to the exact complaint. They use preassigned numbers to reference what you are disputing. Sometimes, you do get it corrected.