Business ProfileforSt. Joseph Regional Medical Center

I Was referred to St. Joseph Regional Medical Center for x-ray on my back and hip by my DR. who is affiliated with St. Joes Regional Medical Center. I was charged $1,364. I called 2 other facilities in the area who provide the same service to check prices and none of them charged more than $300 for an x-ray. I tried calling the facility for 2 weeks twice a day leaving my call back # to get an explanation of why the service cost so much, I never received a call with in those 2 weeks. I finally was hitting random # on the telephone and was connected to a woman who told me that she was not impressed with her own companies billing department and she herself had had similar experiences when trying to get answers from the billing department. She then transferred me to a cashier on site who then told me that those are the prices and she doesn't know why they are so expensive and can do nothing about it. I then asked her if she could send the bill back to insurance to make sure they covered the service correctly and I was told she doesn't do that and that it was my responsibility. This is also the same facility who sent me to collections even though I was paying monthly on a different bill and had paid $200 to the facility before they sent me to collections and the reason being was because I didn't not set up a payment plan with them. I now have a $800 bill (insurance taken out) and no answers to why or if there was a mistake in the billing process. How are they able to charge $400 more for a service that most everyone else charges less for? Please make sure you as a consumer know where your Dr. is sending you for services that they are referring and that you as a consumer have a right to tell your doctor where you would like those services to be done.