My daughter was in the hospital for a considerable amount of time... One wee were approached in the NICu unit by the doctor who asked us about insurance information(wanting to know if we received payment from them) We were approached in the middle of discharge by the billing dept in front of other hopsital employees and again asked about insurance payment. Today I was approached by the Chief Financial Officer who was contacted by the DOCTOR to speak to me WHILE I was being seen in the OUTPAITIENT clinic for treatment of my child. He wanted to speak to me about my bill... I have NEVER felt so uncomfortable in my LIFE since the nurse in the room had to bring me to hime to speak to him!

Not sure if some collection law may have been violated, but did they discuss your treatment, did they discuss anything other than when the bill was going to be paid. They would have to had discusss something about your treatment to be a violation.

What I am certainly upset about is the fact that they discussed this in an open area where other patients and parents were and could overhear.

Which may well be against some collection laws. But unless they talked about payment on this operation or payment for this medication,
Merely asking about payment for the bill, I don't see as a HIPPA issue.

Now you may wish to complain to the attorney general of your state ( assuming you are in the USA) as to violation of collection.
Also they can review it to see if they feel it is a HIPPA violation.

Many of the HIPPA issues are still being resolved in court case after court case.

Take a look of how the HIPAA Law works and who's covered with: http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacysummary.pdf

I understand that any person that have a question about your health or some related theme (like health insurance) have to do it with confidenciality.