Hospital Upcharging For Delivery

I had my baby back in September and am currently fighting the hospital bill. I had an unmedicated, uncomplicated delivery and was only in L&D for 3 hours. We got to the hospital after hours so the only entrance was the ER entrance. I got wheeled straight up to L&D and did not stop in the ER. Once we received our bill, we noticed a Level 5 Emergency Room charge for $17k and immediately disputed this charge. This charge accounted for more than half of the total bill for my 2 night stay and is in addition to Labor and Delivery fees.

The hospital gave me a final notice before the bill would be sent to collections and I am still trying to get a clear answer from them on what I received that warranted a level 5 emergency. Their only response thus far is that is what the hospital charges since I did not have a scheduled delivery.

What further recourse options do I have to fight this charge? It's not the money aspect, but the unethical and fraudulent practice that we are fighting. If they remove/reduce the ER charge we would be willing to pay in full right away. But their billing actions cause us to not pay them anything. I would rather have them lose money by sending the bill to collections and us then just paying collections.