Big price difference between 2 medical service providers for same procedure - acceptable?

I was seeing my in-network doctor one time. She asked a colleague a question. I never talked to the doctor. He came in for one second. He was out of network. That fricker tacked on $400 to my bill for consultation.
Then I had to fight to get it taken off.


Our health system is screwed but we are too political to fix it.
No one will agree.

Insurance companies have different fee schedules for different providers/locations. Essentially their contracted rate will be different based upon the place that the service occurs. Even if they would both be clinics, you'd see a discrepancy there. Also, are you certain it is the exact same procedure being done at both facilities?

ETA: also note that the clinic will essentially have one fee schedule for procedure x regardless of the fact that the allowable for that procedure for insurance company y is 50% of that amount, because the allowable for insurance company z might be 100%. They charge all insurance companies the same, regardless if they will only receive 50% from company x and possibly 25% from another.

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Ortho A (Clinic) MRI costs 3X more than Ortho B (Hospital) MRI costs

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In general, charges billed at a hospital location will be higher than the same services billed from a clinic setting.

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Both on same exact insurance plan using same annual deductible at nearly the same time, etc

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Do they work together at the same company, if not I find this very unlikely that it's the same plan.

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Ortho A (Clinic) MRI costs 3X more than Ortho B (Hospital) MRI costs

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I'm actually surprised. When I have testing in hospitals it is always way more than if I can do it at freestanding clinics. Nowadays though, the freestanding clinics are owned by the hospital haha.