Paragon Revenue Group: check the medical bill before you pay

Paragon Revenue Group is a division of Jon Barry & Associates, Inc., and says it has been collecting debts since 1986. Its notice must name the provider you owe and show how the balance changed since the itemization date.

Ask the provider, not only Paragon, for an itemized bill listing each service, the date, the amount charged, what insurance paid and any adjustments. Check it against your explanation of benefits from your insurer: charges for services you did not receive, duplicates, and claims never sent to insurance are common reasons to dispute.

For a hospital or doctor's bill, the rules are friendlier than for most debts: see what happens if you do not pay medical bills, and how negotiating a hospital bill can reduce it.

• Insurance never billed, or billed wrongly. A claim sent to an old insurer, or with a typo in your member number, can leave you holding a bill your plan should have paid. Your explanation of benefits shows what was submitted.
• Out-of-network surprises. An emergency visit or a specialist you did not choose may be billed as out of network when it should not have been.
• Duplicate lines. The same test, supply or visit charged twice, or a facility fee repeated across dates.
• Already paid. A copay or deposit you paid at the time that never reached the account.

Write down each error you find and ask Paragon, in your dispute, to send the account back to the provider for correction. The notice must show how the balance was built, so any figure that cannot be explained is part of your dispute.

Hospital systems are among Paragon's clients, and a nonprofit hospital is obliged to run a financial assistance program, often open even once a bill is with an outside agency. Depending on household income, the result can be a discount or the whole bill forgiven.

Request the application from the hospital's patient accounts office in writing, then send Paragon a short note saying an application is pending, so the account can be held while the hospital decides.

The three national credit bureaus do not list paid medical collections or medical collections under $500 on credit reports. Unpaid medical collections less than a year old are not reported either, under the bureaus' own policy. So if a paid medical collection, or one under $500, appears on your report, dispute it with each bureau that shows it. Our credit report guide explains how.

Its payment website, payprg.com, takes card and check payments and is where its letters direct people. Type the address yourself rather than using a link in a text or email. If anything about a message seems off, compare it with Paragon's office details, Paragon Revenue Group, 216 Le Phillip Ct., Concord, NC, or paste it into our free scam checker.

The quickest way to make Paragon prove the debt is a debt validation letter sent inside the dispute window.

Paragon's payment site asks for all correspondence at its P.O. box in Concord. A written dispute inside the validation period makes it stop collecting until it mails verification. North Carolina licenses collection agencies through its Department of Insurance, and Paragon publishes its company number, 119498543.

Not sure a message is really from Paragon? Our guide to spotting fake debt collectors lists the warning signs regulators describe.

Say Paragon mails a notice on Wednesday, May 26, 2027 about a $1,482.10 emergency room bill.

1. Memorial Day (May 31) and the weekend do not count, so the fifth working day after mailing is Thursday, June 3, 2027.
2. The dispute period can end no earlier than Saturday, July 3, 2027.
3. Mail your dispute to the P.O. box, ask for an itemized bill, and apply to the hospital for financial assistance.

Live in North Carolina? Our North Carolina guide covers the state's own protections.