OSF Healthcare System Corporate Office & Headquarters

First, I will tell you, we are generally pleased with care we've received. I do have a complaint about a recent charge for the service, though. I had tried with my doctor's office, my insurance and the OSF St. Anthony Hospital (a couple departments and people), here in Rockford, IL. I could not get an answer from anyone, of what my charges were going to be BEFORE consenting to have a series of tests done. My Dr. said call the insurance, they said call the hospital, they have the figures. The hospital said call they insurance, they know. Went through the circle 3 times. This one particular charge is for a CT Scan, actually seen as two, a pelvic and an abdominal. Same area, done at the same time. Even so, when I received my EOB from insurance (Cinergy -ha!), I was SHOCKED to see it was billed for $4,116.00 to start with! Then the BIG discount I was promised was only 10% for being in the plan! The insurance only pays $70 no matter what it is - that stinks in and of itself. I tried to find out the fees when my doctor told me what he wanted done, so that we would know what was going to come out of pocket and be prepared to pay and not be shocked! I had an EKG and CT Scan at the hospital and my Colonoscopy was wrongly scheduled by the Dr.'s office to be done at their surgical center. GOOD THING! After receiving the EOB, I decided to wait for the bill, thinking all the discounts hadn't been made yet. When I got the actual bill, I called the insurance first to see why they only discounted 10%. They said the PROVIDER determines how much of a discount they want to give and contract for that amount. I called the OSF billing office about it. They said nothing could be done to change it, it is the contracted amount. After talking to unhappy husband about it, I called back to ask who we could talk to to complain about the contract determinations and the fact that I could not get this information prior to my tests. 'Lisa' (I think) asked if I called the "Price Quote Line"? I said no one of all the people I talked to there, including the billing office, ever mentioned a Price Quote Line, was John Smith and Jane Doe just expected to know this? I asked who is responsible for setting the contracted rates? She said it is done at corporate office. I asked for the address. She didn't know what it was and would have to get it from someone in a meeting. She called back a little later to tell me she had talked to her supervisor about it and was told (and to tell me) 'that's the contracted rate and there is nothing that can be done about it, unless it is for financial hardship. I was told we could come in and complain to them if we want, but it wouldn't do any good. We could write to corporate if we want. But she still didn't have an address. So I hope you are the person to handle or pass on my complaint to the proper authorities. Thank you. JoAnne Staehnke