Sanford Health review: Billing since Sanford took over some facilities in Rapid City

I have since found out that services and procedures I had prior to Sanford taking over some facilities in the Rapid City area are billed at a much higher rate than before they were Sanford. I have always paid a co-pay for most my services as I have good insurance and pay more for it but since Sanford bills now, and a lot of these places no longer do their own billing, I have since received a $1100 bill for an MRI and steroid shot that I have paid $30 for at the same facility in the past. That is just one portion of my bills coming in so I can only imagine what it will be when the rest come in. Also, I just had the services done end of July and I am getting aggressive notifications that I only have until Sept 15th to pay. Same with Physical therapy being billed at a higher rate. I was told by Sanford Billing now on three occasions just to clarify they bill all PT locations at facility rate vs office. I have since had to cancel all my PT that was scheduled through Sanford and move to independent facility that is non-Sanford. The non-Sanford facility could guarantee I will be billed at the office rate. I have got my HR department involved so they could contact Wellmark rep and BSI. I also let other employees know come open-enrollment to be careful of Sanford and how they bill insurance. Half of my co-workers heard the phone calls I had with Sanford billing and could not believe it. Super rude and do not care about the patient or community. Just this is how it is and no matter what you do you owe this astronomical bill. When I spoke to BCBS on 9/1 they told me they have received several complaints from the BH community about Sanford billing since they took over some facilities. They even stated all Sanford billing needs to do is re-bill them correctly and insurance will cover my portion, but Sanford Billing refused. Our Wellmark rep recommended I escalate it to manager at Sanford Billing and that didn't work as they said this is how they always have done things so no matter what I do it will not change. The VP of company also spoke to BSI to ask what the reasoning for higher billing through Sanford was and they stated it could be they got in trouble for something in the past or for monetary reasons. I'm thinking the latter. Because of all these un-expected expenses with Sanford now I have had to cancel appointments and delay my recovery and healthcare while I move to non-Sanford healthcare. Please note the Sanford facilities and doctors here are amazing it's the billing that is un-fair. I have since spoken to several people that are having the same issues that I am having. Even the old billing manager of the place I had the MRI filed a complaint above the supervisor at Sanford Billing because she is afraid word of mouth of what is happening will cause patients to no longer go to their facilities. It is very unfortunate. Please be very cautious if you go to anything Sanford in Rapid City as you will be billed differently than you are used to prior to their takeover of some health care facilities. It was recommended to me by Wellmark and other Billing specialists to ask when you make an appt, will this be billed as office or facility visit. If it's facility it will be much higher and insurance will not cover what you are used to based on how Sanford billing bills insurance. The Rapid City area should be warned or very cautious. I was hoping Sanford would be a good thing coming her and I think the Healthcare portion is good, it's just you will need to expect higher bills out of pocket. It's very unfortunate for the majority of us in this economy.