FirstSource Solutions review: scam 27

Firstsource LLC is a company that many hospitals contract with to try to assist selfpay patients with getting assistance with the hospital bills through financial assistance programs, state Medicaid programs, and Disability. If you question them contacting you, then you should contact the hospital or facility that they refer to in the letter. I work for them helping people apply for Medicaid and financial assistance.

I also am getting calls and letters from them asking for personal information. I was concerned because the person who called said bluntly, "We need your birth certificate and proof of income" without identifying who they were. At the very least they are extremely unprofessional but it concerns me.

Birth certificates and proof of income are requirements for state Medicaid programs. If they are helping you with applying for an assistance program they will ask for these things so that they can make sure that all required documentation is submitted for the program. If you prefer to take these items to your local State office yourself then you can do so. Firstsource is trying to assist you with the application process. If at any time you don't want their help and prefer to handle things on your own without the extra assistance you need to let them know. Then you will just need to work with your local assistance office yourself. The reason they request those items is legitimate.

I understand. Is there a chance that this office is not who they say they are? I can't find this branch listed on the FirstSource website, nor anywhere else in my google search. I suppose I can contact the hospital tomorrow to find out for certain.

I guess it is always possible that someone could be falsely be portraying themselves as part of an organization. I can tell you that when I go to the Firstsource website myself, I personally cannot find a list of locations of the regional offices, including the office I work through.

Please feel free to contact the hospital you went to regarding their affiliation with Firstsource. Many times they have an on-site Firstsource worker within the hospital that may be able to assist you as well. The hospital should be able to tell you if they are contracted with Firstsource so that you feel comfortable with discussing Assistance Programs with the Firstsource representatives. Also, if you are able to work out payments or something with the hospital directly and do not need any additional assistance, you can then ask that the hospital tell Firstsource to discontinue their attempts to contact you. In this day and age with identity theft issues, I certainly understand wanting to verify a company is on the "up and up" before discussing or providing any personal information.

Please keep in mind that many assistance programs have time limits for their application processes, so please don't wait too long to try to get help through the hospital and/or Firstsource or other agencies. Many State programs will only look at the prior 3 months when reviewing your information for assistance, so if it's been over 90 days since you went to the hospital they may not be able to help you. Also, some Hospital Assistance programs only look at assisting with accounts in the last 3 or 6 months or so. Each place has different time limits and other criteria for their programs.

an extremely overweight sloppy woman, which i could barely undertsand with her voice. she may have a speech impedment Will continouslly call my husband about a debt he previously resloved. she was rude and was unwilling to take the time to undertsand the situation

How do you know she's overweight and sloppy from a phone call? Assumption is the same thing that is making her call for a debt that has supposedly been paid.

Here is April DeAngelis on face book https://www.facebook.com/people/April-DeAngelis/1155740335
None of the women pictured look overweight or sloppy. Maybe she is using bill collection as an excuse to call your hubby?

How long does the application process take for medicaid and when CAN YOU RECIEVE INSURANCE NUMBER FOR MEDICAL BILLS BY THE HELP OF FIRST SOUCE

I agree that any financial assistance (or collection) agency is out of line when requesting sensitive personal information up front, .
In my particular case, I received a detailed hospital bill only after I was first presented with an outrageously high bill that only showed the total amount due. I believe it is both, inaccurate and greatly inflated. Before seeking financial assistance with the payment of such a bill, I would like to know what my legal options are in disputing some of these fees. I am currently without health insurance, living on Social Security, and struggling to survive; and if I am to pay this bill out-of-pocket, I must try to get it vastly reduced.
I think it's criminal the way health costs have risen in recent years, and that these criminals should receive a reality check...LEGALLY.
I would like to hear from anyone with advice or prior experience in this kind of situation.

Each hospital should have a Quality Assurance worker who can review your itemized bill to make sure that you were only billed for products and services you received through the facility. There are occasions where mistakes are made, however occasionally in that review process they may also find a lab or test that hadn't been charged to you. It may or may not result in a change of your medical charges.

Many hospitals in larger cities do automatically make adjustments to your overall bill if you are self-pay and reduce the overall charges to a "self-pay discount" cost or maybe to a discounted amount that is generally given to some insurance companies. Not all hospitals do this. Some hospitals require you to complete a Charity or Financial Assistance Applicationsnd submit information regarding your financial situation to determine if they can reduce your bill due to your lower income.

Unfortunately, many medical charges are very high. If you had any X-rays, MRIs, CAT Scans, etc then those are very expensive. If you had a surgical procedure, especially a laporoscopic procedure, then it will also very expensive. Be sure you keep in mind that any worker you speak to in their Billing Department did not set the fees and probably thinks theyre very expensive too. It's not their fault, so please try to be patient with them.

If you do draw Social Security due a health condition/disability, you should check into applying for your state Medicaid program for medical coverage. If you draw Social Security due to age/retirement then you would have to contact Social Security to see if you qualify for changing over to Disabled benefits. To get Medicaid you must be over 65, blind, or permanently disabled in most states. They'll either review your medical information from the last year to determine eligibility, or of you already get Social Security Disability, this step can be skipped, and they'll then only look at your finances/resources. Keep in mind, there are clinics for uninsured that charge on a sliding scale based on income, so of you can start seeing doctors there, you may be able to keep from having to wait til your condition leads you to the hospital.

Like I said, feel free to contact the hospital and ask them to review your itemized charges to make sure they are correct. It is customary that they only send a bill with the total unless a patient requests an itemized statement do they weren't trying to pull one over on you. As I'm sure you know, the itemized bills can be several pages. Good luck. There are prescription assistance programs like PPARX.org and Needymeds.com that could help you get cheaper medications, and the sliding scale clinics so you can maintain medical treatment on a normal basis.

Firstsource Solutions USA LLC sent us a letter requesting personal information from my wife. We already are on Medicare and have Supplemental Insurance that picks up the rest of what Medcare does not cover. My question is how and why did the Doctor release information to this company to send this letter, when we already have coverage to take care of medical bills. NOTE: WE HAVE NEVER BEEN ON MEDICAID OR ANY PUBLIC ASSISTANCE AND DO NOT NEED ANY SUCH THING. This is a violation of our rights that this company now has our personal information, when they have NO NEED TO HAVE SUCH INFORMATION. We are going to be contacting the doctor concerning this matter. WE WILL NOT EVER FILL OUT ANY OF THE PAPERS THEY SENT US REQUESTING MORE INFOMRATION, AS WE DO NOT NEED ANY ASSISTANCE OF ANY KIND FROM THIS COMPANY. I agree that this is a SCAM.

We do help – our hospital clients and their patients.

I would like to take this opportunity to reach out to any posters who feel as though they would like more information regarding Firstsource and our services.

Firstsource Solutions USA, LLC (“Firstsource”) was founded on a mission to help patients while treating them with compassion, dignity and respect. For more than 20 years, Firstsource has helped uninsured and underinsured patients through the often difficult and confusing process of applying for assistance. This is a free service to patients and/or their families as a courtesy of our hospital clients. Through our MedAssist® eligibility services program, we screen patients at the hospital and over the telephone to determine if they may qualify for medical coverage and possible cash assistance through federal, state and local programs.

If you feel you have been contacted by mistake, experienced an unpleasant call or have any other concerns or questions about our services, please feel free to contact me directly.

I look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you,

Laura W. Kinder, Compliance Officer
[protected] ext 3107
Firstsource Solutions USA, LLC
1661 Lyndon Farm Court
Louisville, Kentucky 40223
laura.kinder@na.firstsource.com

This company is A BILL COLLECTION COMPANY THAT IS HIDING BEHIND A VENEER OF CHARITY WORK! I have been out of work for 3 years and was in the hospital for heart attack and extreme high blood pressure, and these scuz bags came into my room, woke me up late at night, with me on an IV and started to DEMAND personal information. They gave the IMPRESSION that they were working for the government social programs (they are well coached on how to give you this impression with out actually saying it). They told me I HAD to have my daughter sign that she was paying my bills BEFORE they could help me! When I demanded to know who they were and just WHY they needed all this private information, when they didn't work for the hospital or the state, they walked out in a huff! KNOW what? I'm sueing the hell out of the hospital AND first source!

I will say that NO ONE has a right to your personal medical information outside of the provider without YOUR EXPRESS WRITTEN CONSENT. I was in the hospital and qualified already for THIER financial assistance program and I know I am not yet eligible for Medicair even though I am getting SSDI, due to the waiting period. I also know my monthly check is too much to qualify me state Medicaid. They will get a letter back from my attorney stating so also if they push their luck. DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING... and for heaven's sake do not give them any personal information. I am going to write them a letter explaining HIPA laws, which they are violating if they say they have access to your personal medical information because of an existing contract with a hospital or clinic. The bullying stuff is just nasty in the US regarding this... hopefully it will get better with the new regs... but believe me, they are not entitled to ANYTHING without a medical release form that is expressly filled out by you between your provider and them.

I was recently taken to the emergency room with severe chest pains. A few days later I received one of these letters from FIRSTSOURCE wanting my personal information and to sign a peper saying my HIPPA rights to medical records privacy will no longer be private or protected. I did a little research online.
PAY ATTENTION EVERYONE---- FIRSTSOURCE IS A COLLECTION AGENCY.

Google this exactly------>> Firstsource Collection Agency

I even found their main website, it has it posted on it that their a collection agency.
I found ad's online from firstsource advertising for collection agent's.

The letters they send out don't have the required federal disclaimer that their a collection agency-- that any information obtained will be used for that purpose.

CORRECTION

Google--->>> FIRSTSOURCE COLLECTION AGENCY

I found ad's online where Firstsource is advertising for collection agent's.

As a former FIRSTSOURCE Patient Service Representatvie, the service offered to uninsured and underinsured patients is not for collection purposes. PSRs interview patients and patient's families to determine eligibility for county/state/federal programs of assistance (eg SSI SSDI Medicaid HCAP). We were trained to treat patients with respect and dignity. and disclosure of our role was vital-presenting as a county, state, or federal worker is unethical and not how we presented to client-hospital patients.. If you have questions, contact FIRSTSOURCE in Louisville, KY.

PEOPLE- the reason we pay taxes here in America is so that we actually have government employees that can help you fill out whatever paperwork you need to at the federal or state level. THERE IS NEVER ANY NEED TO GIVE PERSONAL FINANCIAL OR MEDICAL INFORMATION TO A THIRD PARTY. Hopsitals and clinics cannot disclose your information to a third party just because THEY have some form of agreement with them. THAT IS ILLEGAL. Regardless of what Firstsource says, they do not have anything without your written express consent. YOU can always call any number of legal aide non profits if you are really too impaired to figure it out at the federal or state level. FIRSTSOURCE LLC is owned by a collection company that is in INDIA- so they are assuming you have no rights under HIPPA.

FIRST SOURCE SOLUTIONS had started trying to collect automatic payments through a DISCOVER card of an elderly client of mine. The elderly client did not authorize the payments. My client has no computer, and records all of her phone calls before answering them, so has not placed or authorized any phone orders. When trying to call FIRST SOURCE SOLUTIONS in Niagara Falls, only get a voicemail recording. My client has alerted DISCOVER that the charges are fraudulent, and she has contacted her bank to disallow withdrawals by DISCOVER from her account. How FIRST SOURCE SOLUTIONS got her credit card number is unknown. The bank said FIRST SOURCE SOLUTIONS sent the withdrawal through as an ACH withdrawal...meaning a phone authorization. The bank was about to release the money to FIRST SOURCE SOLUTIONS, but we caught the withdrawal in time, and the money was put back into my client's account. They seem to be targeting elderly people's credit card accounts...BEWARE!

First source this company is a joke or Hoax. My brother has been in the hospital for 4 weeks. all the social workers tell us to contact First Source so they can help you with the medicaid and SSD application. These people have not return my call in over 4 weeks and I had the supervisor from the hospital to call and she didn't get a response either. they have got a great contract to do nothing but collect their checks from the taxpayers at the end of the day. I am going to contact the compliance officer at my hospital and let them know that these people do not exist they are only a shell company.

I was contacted by First Source for possible financial assistance for a hospital bill of $736.00. The lady I talked to was very professional and courteous. She sent me financial assistance forms to fill out, which were much the same as any other financial assistance form I had filled out for other things in the past. They also included a HIPA compliancy letter. After filling out the form and sending it in, about 2 weeks later I received a bill from the hospital, and my amount due had been reduced to $154.00. I am hoping they will allow me to apply for further medical assistance as I have several other outstanding bills which have occurred after they reduced my first bill.

My husband was injured and had to have surgery. The bills are about $15, 000. FirstSource sent us the info to fill out for assistance. We did that in July and to date have not heard back from them. After reading these posts, I'm concerned that I may have made a mistake in trusting them with our information. Guess I should have checked first.

Firstsource is a scam. Plain and simple. In ALL of the complaints online, you will see that this company follows suit with other scam collections agencies by having employees reply to these complaints trying to state that they are "legit". Only 1 type of company does that. A BAD company. How many Microsoft employees do you see trying to rebut complaints about them? ABSOLUTELY NONE. Why? Because Microsoft, as much as I hate them, ARE are legit company. Any company that tries to rebut things on a community site such as these is trying to hide something. Firstsource IS A COLLECTIONS AGENCY. They pay hospitals to give uninsured patients the patients mailing/phone information. Hospitals do this because they know they will not get ANY money from uninsured people, so why not make SOMETHING out of nothing? And now... you know... THE REST of the story. When you go to the ER and the lady says, call XYZ they will help you with paying, they are a free service to you, simply tell them you are not interested in collections agencies and demand to be seen as is. They cannot refuse you based on lack of funds or unwillingness to participate in a collections scam.

Don;t let them apply for any assistance for you. They are "creative" when completing applications for your behalf (really it is for them because EVERYONE they are able to get approved for any type of medical assistance, they receive a bonus for it, They push OBAMA care and don't really care about you as a person - they are looking at you as a way to make money.

Its Indian originated and still controlled Corp and then made LLC in most states."https://tinyurl.com/2es9zekc"It was incorporated in US as a Delaware Corp Oct 18, 2007 with Corp Directors at Mumbai India.In 2010 it was changed to an Delaware LLC registered in almost all states. "https://opencorporates.com/companies?q=Firstsource+Solutions+USA%2C+LLC".It is for profit collection agency on pretext of finding medical bills help.Any common person can apply for benefits.They make a whooping profit.It is listed on India's Stock Exchange, "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firstsource".

Medassistusa (sister company Mediquip) a company that pretends to help you with medical needs. Their name is a play on other legal ethical companies, and these companies are vilified because of this, they change a letter or add something to the name to make you think you’re dealing with a respected company. Their current phone number [protected]

Their target market is the old and frail, black, Hispanic and those who battle to understand technology and who then believe this company will assist them.

They make it sound like they work with Medicare, Medicaid or your insurance to help you, they do not and are not authorized to (contact your insurance and you will have this confirmed).

They get your details (address, Medicare, Medicaid, social security numbers, they claim to follow HIPA but your information is open to everyone) from hospitals, rehabs or social workers.

Your social security number is available to each and single one of their call takers, some of these call takers are outsourced from India.

Due to a real fear on my life I can not name the hospitals involved, but after every hospital admission or every medical interaction check your accounts.

You get contacted by them (call agent) who then want more info and ask what you need. The moment they have your details, they start billing you for their “service”.

The idea is not to really help you but to keep you on the system as long as they can so they can keep on billing you. If you are lucky, you will get an account which will alert you to what is going on, in general you don’t as they just directly bill your insurance etc.

You need to request or look at information of who is claiming from your insurance, please check what is going on to make sure you do not get abused.

Now and then someone might help, but you can actually do all of this yourself by going on Medicare website, educate yourself to not be abused.

Report call harassment, report being billed for services you never asked for, report it if someone you do not know has your information.

There are some legal loop holes they get through to be able to claim from your insurance, if your insurance asks details, medassist will show them nonsense paperwork they helped you with, even if they never made contact with you. If you are diabetic, they will find a diabetic recipe or something similar and claim this is something they found to help you with. Thus legally they can claim/charge as something was done for you.

This is unfortunately not the only company abusing ignorance of vulnerable people.

To anyone reading this, have a look who is deducting from your insurance and query it.

This is not part of a service your insurance offers, you’re paying for this!

To insurance companies reading this, please be aware of companies like this defrauding you.

Changing your insurance won’t help either, you will be called and asked for new details.

Please protect yourself and your family from this unethical business scam/practice.

There are many out there abusing the names of well known decent companies, the tactic of “making it sound like” is used, thus they aren’t breaking the legal laws around copyright of names.

Check your bills, don’t give out info to strangers, very rarely do people just help without getting something out of it.

They will reply that they do help, check that info on your accounts!

They will say this is a free service offered to you by their MedAssist® eligibility services program, that’s the program you never signed up for and are paying.

Also look for complaints about this company under First source to see the experiences people have had and how they have been abused. Please be safe out there.

My name is Cindy Brown and these people called me today and said they had my resume. I never sent them my resume and then they said that they where going to email me with "more information". They never did. I also noticed this company is in Minnesota and I live in California.