Collections agencies need to provide you with an itemized list of what you owe and to who.
If a hospital gives out this information, especially if they didn’t even try to collect it themselves, they have violated HIPPA.
Will a collections agency give you a document proving they vioated HIPPA? No. Do you owe debts on something w/o receipts? No.
Almost certainly flatly untrue. Medical debt in the US goes to collections agencies all of the time. According to the CFPB, consumer credit debt from credit records totals around $88B USD. If this was some sly loophole, someone would have figured it out and won in court by now.
This seems like bad advice at best and actively harmful at worst.
People “win” and get medical debt dismissed all the fucking time. HIPPA doesn’t fuck around.