<prompt> Human: Recently went to a doctor, who sent a routine test to a lab that turned out to be out of network. Received a 600 bill from this lab in the mail the other day. I wasnt asked to choose the lab it would be sent to, and wasnt even informed that there was a possibility it could go to an out of network lab doctor is obviously in-network.I called the doctors office this morning and they told me that I needed to tell them which lab to use specifically, and that they dont check if labs are in network - patients must tell them in advance which lab to use. I have never heard of this or been asked by doctors which labs to use, and have never been billed for an out of network lab test before. Doctors office said this is a standard practice and is totally my responsibility to tell them which lab to use. Fair enough if true, but can anyone here confirm? Do people walk into Doctors appointments with a list of labs they want used? Seems ridiculous. If the docs office is being dishonest, is there any recourse? Havent yet talked to insurance, which I guess would be my next step.  <response>: Work for an insurance company, yep unfortunately this is standard practice in the US. We recently had some contract issues with one of the biggest labs in the country and were the biggest insurer in our state, and the direction we were supposed to give our members was that they should be checking the network status of every person they see. I work in a member-facing department, and I KNOW most people dont do that because its asinine AF, but yes thats our way to save our butts. Yes, I know this entire industry is a mess.Call the lab see if theyll negotiate with you; either a discount or the cash price. You may be able to get them down to the network rate they were getting from your insurance, if they were recently in-network with that plan. If your coverage is through your employer, get a copy of your benefit booklet look for the big things: office visits, labs, imaging, etc. Also jump on your insurers website and create an account most of them should have this, so you can easily check your benefits the network status of any providers you see. It slows things down a little bit at the office if your doc is trying to order labs or something, but it will save you money in the long run. And maybe once they see more people doing it, theyll start to think about where theyre ordering stuff be done. 