End surprise medical billing! A startling first person report from Arizona

I checked out the mission statement published by Carondelet (see asterisk below).  What is posted on the website does not match with the experience described in this letter to the editor.

An alarming letter to the editor about surprise medical billing published in Tuscon.com, an Arizona newspaper:

Letter: The U.S. must defend beneficiaries against surprise medical billings!

TUSCON, Arizona - Amen. Last year my wife was in car accident and I took her to Carondelet St. Marys Hospital* on Silverbell Road, for emergency treatment. After giving my insurance info to the receptionist and paying my deductible, my wife received 4 stitches from a nurse on her injured thumb. My insurance provider -- Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona-- paid the hospital almost immediately. Three months later I received a bill for $1180.00 from an out-of-state physicians billing service. It seems the emergency room medical staff at St. Marys are contractors, not regular employees. As such, they're out-of-network. At no time prior to my wife's treatment was I informed that the nurses services would not be covered by my insurance. My many attempts to address this with St.Marys was met with bureaucratic runaround that would make the Government blush. This billing scam needs to be addressed immediately by the State as a consumer fraud issue.

From Thomas McClure
West side Tuscon, Arizona

*Mission, Vision and Values: The Carondelet Health Network is a member of Tenet – a diversified healthcare services company which serves communities both nationally and internationally. 

We are united around a common mission to help people within the communities where we serve to live happier and healthier lives. 

We accomplish this by providing for the health care needs of our community; by embracing the whole person in mind, body, and spirit; and by serving all persons without distinction. We seek to serve our patients, customers, and our communities well; and to provide an exceptional environment for our employees and affiliated physicians.

We are guided by five (5) core values:
Quality – is at the core of our business and guides our actions and decisions.
Integrity – we manage our business and provide care and services with integrity and the highest ethical standards.
Service – we foster a culture of service that values teamwork and focuses on the needs of others.
Innovation – we support a culture of innovation that enables us to create strategies to address the challenges and opportunities that arise in healthcare.
Transparency – we operate with transparency by measuring our results and sharing our outcomes.