Sent to ER by Urgent Care, Told by ER and Different Location of Same Urgent Care That I Should Not Have Been Sent to ER.

I developed a corneal ulcer on a Sunday evening and went to in-network urgent care (Optum) first thing Monday morning. The urgent care doctor looked at my eye and said they are not set up to care for me there, that it is an emergency and instructed me to go the ER, giving me two hospital options, each with two different types of opthalmology care (one on-call and one on-site) but suggested the one closest by over an hour drive distance with on-call services, which is where I went.

The ER doctor and assistants were each surprised the Optum clinic would send me to the ER when their nearby Optum location has a top notch ophthalmology department. So the ER called that Optum clinic and secured a same-day appointment for me. The ophthalmologist at this second location was also very surprised that the physician at the first Optum clinic would refer me to the ER instead of to this second location and asked the name of the physician. After the ophthalmologist left the room, the medical assistant shut the door and said she shouldn't be telling me this but that I need to go talk to a manager at the first location because it isn't okay what happened and that I am going to get a large bill from the ER, when I should not have been sent there by their other Optum location. I received a $900 bill from the ER and am waiting for my bills from Optum to get processed and sent to me. Do I have a valid argument here for Optum and if so, how would they even handle it since the ER is still owed their money for services rendered? (My Optum bills will total around $1500, if that matters.)