Frequently Asked Questions

The first step is a $149 review fee.

If your matter is accepted, we tell you which package fits, what the engagement fee is, what the fee cap is, and whether a modest success fee applies. You should know the full pricing structure before representation begins, and the fee should be easier to understand than open-ended hourly billing.

If we review your medical bills and determine that the matter is not a good fit or that there is no meaningful path within this limited-scope service, we will tell you directly. The review fee pays for that screening and review. Additional fees should arise only if the matter is accepted into a defined engagement.

If the firm offers any hourly work at all, it should be limited to a narrow exception lane for separate retained matters that truly belong with this office. Insurance appeals, public-benefits disputes, and bankruptcy-driven cases are not treated as hourly add-ons just because they arrived through intake.

An itemized bill is a line-by-line breakdown of every charge from a medical provider. It shows each service, procedure code, date, and amount individually instead of lumping everything into one total. Most bills patients receive are summary bills, not itemized bills.

Under Georgia law (O.C.G.A. § 31-7-9), you have the right to request an itemized statement from any healthcare provider. We request itemized bills as a standard part of our review because they are where billing errors, duplicate charges, and upcoding become visible. A summary bill that says you owe $12,000 might tell a very different story once you see the line items.

An Explanation of Benefits is a document your health insurance company sends after processing a claim. It is not a bill. It shows what the provider charged, what your insurance agreed to pay, what adjustments were made, and what portion, if any, is your responsibility.

EOBs are critical because they let us verify whether the amount you are being billed actually matches what your insurance determined you owe. We frequently find discrepancies between what the EOB says the patient owes and what the provider is actually billing. If you have EOBs for your medical visits, upload them during intake. If you do not have them, we can request them from your insurance company using a HIPAA authorization.

Balance billing is when a provider bills you for the difference between their full charge and the amount your insurance paid. For example, if a surgeon charges $10,000 and your insurance pays $4,000, the surgeon sends you a bill for $6,000. That $6,000 is the “balance.”

Under both federal law (the No Surprises Act) and Georgia law, balance billing is prohibited in many situations, particularly for emergency services, for ancillary services at in-network facilities, and when the provider did not give you proper written notice and obtain your consent to waive protections. Whether a balance bill is legal depends on the specific facts, including the type of care, the facility, and the provider's network status. We evaluate each balance bill to determine whether it is legally valid and, if it is not, raise the issue directly with the provider.

The No Surprises Act is a federal law that took effect on January 1, 2022. It protects patients from surprise medical bills in specific situations. If you receive emergency care, or if you are treated at an in-network facility by an out-of-network provider you did not choose (such as an anesthesiologist, radiologist, or pathologist), the provider generally cannot bill you more than your in-network cost-sharing amount.

The law also establishes an independent dispute resolution process for resolving payment disagreements between providers and insurers, keeping the patient out of the middle. If you received a bill that you believe violates the No Surprises Act, we can review the circumstances and, when the facts support it, challenge the bill with the provider or billing office.

The Georgia Fair Business Practices Act (O.C.G.A. § 10-1-390 et seq.) is a state consumer protection law that prohibits unfair or deceptive business practices. In the context of medical billing and debt collection, it provides additional protections beyond federal law.

Collectors and providers who misrepresent debts, use deceptive practices, or engage in unfair billing conduct may be in violation of this law. We evaluate collector and provider conduct against the GFBPA as part of our review and, when violations are documented, raise them as part of the negotiation.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has taken significant action on medical debt. In 2023, the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) removed medical debts under $500 from credit reports. The CFPB has also proposed rules to remove all medical debt from credit reports entirely.

These changes mean that medical debt increasingly has less impact on your credit score than it once did, though larger balances and accounts in active collections can still create problems. Understanding the current regulatory landscape is part of how we evaluate each case.

Medical bills themselves do not appear on your credit report. But if a medical bill is sent to a third-party collections agency and reported to the credit bureaus, it can affect your credit. As of 2023, the major credit bureaus no longer include medical collections under $500 on credit reports, and there is a one-year waiting period before any medical debt can be reported.

If your medical debt is already in collections and affecting your credit, our collections defense service includes formal dispute and verification under the FDCPA, which can sometimes result in the removal of improperly reported accounts.

In Georgia, the statute of limitations on medical debt is generally six years from the date of the last payment or the date the debt became due. This means a creditor or collector has six years to file a lawsuit to collect the debt. After that period, the debt is considered “time-barred” and while collectors can still contact you, they generally cannot sue you for it.

An important detail: making even a partial payment on a time-barred debt can restart the statute of limitations clock. This is one of the reasons we ask during intake whether you have made any payments on the debt and when.

Debt collector harassment is illegal under both the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and the Georgia Fair Business Practices Act. Harassing conduct includes calling repeatedly to annoy or abuse you, using threatening or obscene language, calling before 8 AM or after 9 PM, contacting you at work after being told not to, and misrepresenting the debt or their authority.

Once you have legal representation, we can direct the collector to communicate through our office only. We document all violations and, when supported by the facts, raise them as part of the negotiation or as independent claims. Collectors who violate the FDCPA can be liable for actual damages, statutory damages of up to $1,000, and attorney fees.

Prior payments matter for two reasons. First, any payments you have made reduce your outstanding balance, and we need to know the accurate number we are working with. Second, in Georgia, making a payment on a debt can restart the six-year statute of limitations for collection lawsuits. That does not mean making a payment was wrong, but it is important context that affects how we approach the negotiation.

During intake, we ask about prior payments, amounts, and dates so we can build an accurate picture of your situation.

Absolutely. We take your privacy extremely seriously. Your data is protected by HIPAA-grade security measures including: encryption at rest and in transit (AES-256), secure Azure cloud hosting with a signed HIPAA Business Associate Agreement from Microsoft, private database connections with no public internet exposure, two-factor authentication, and strict access controls. All medical bills and personal information are encrypted and stored securely. Only your attorney has access to your case data. We also maintain a tamper-proof audit trail of all access to your information.

Every document you upload and every message you send is encrypted using AES-256 encryption, the same standard used by banks and hospitals. Your data is stored on Microsoft Azure with a signed HIPAA Business Associate Agreement in place. The database runs on a private network with no direct internet exposure. We use Azure Key Vault to manage encryption keys so they are never stored alongside your data.

Only Attorney Hayden Barnes has access to your case data. There are no paralegals, assistants, or third-party staff with access. Every time your file is accessed, viewed, or modified, the system creates a tamper-proof audit log entry recording who accessed what and when. This audit trail cannot be edited or deleted.

We use a passwordless login system called a magic link. When you want to log in, you enter your email address or phone number and we send you a one-time secure link. Click the link and you are in. The link expires after a short time and can only be used once. This is actually more secure than passwords because there is no password to steal, guess, or reuse.

Your case data is retained securely in accordance with the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct, which require attorneys to maintain client files for a minimum period after the matter concludes. Your data remains encrypted and protected by the same security measures during and after your case. You can request a copy of your file at any time.

We use AI tools to help with tasks like extracting information from medical bills, drafting initial correspondence, and organizing case data. However, every AI-generated output is reviewed by Attorney Barnes before it becomes part of your case. AI helps us work faster and more accurately, but a human attorney makes every decision. Your data is processed using Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, which operates under the same HIPAA Business Associate Agreement and does not use your data to train models.