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Appointment Policy |
Payment Policy |
Insurance
Facts |
Office FAQ
 Office Hours
Mon. - Thurs.
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8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Closed for Lunch:
1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Office Visit Guidelines
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For the safety and privacy of others we kindly ask that only 1
parent accompany your child at a time.
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Our only play area is in the reception room, if you choose to
bring siblings we may ask that you remain in the reception area
while we see your child.
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NO cell phones are allowed in clinical area.
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NO strollers are allowed in clinical area.
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NO food and drink are allowed in the office. To uphold our
stringent standards of infection control neither food nor drink
are allowed in the treatment area. Contamination of these
products are possible.
Thank
you for your cooperation.
Appointment Policy
We are aware of school policies that make it difficult for children
to be out of school for any reason. However, medical and dental
appointments are excused absences with a doctor's school note and
signature stating that the child was in the office.
Although we would like to see all school-age patients after school,
this is not possible. Therefore, to make certain everyone has a fair
share of after school appointments, the following guidelines have
been set. Please help your child and others by not asking for
exceptions.
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A parent or legal
guardian must accompany any child under the age of eighteen to
all appointments.
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For your safety and
the safety of our patients and our staff we respectfully request
that no food, drinks,
strollers, or cell phones be in any treatment areas.
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Children six and under
will be scheduled only between the hours of 8:20 and 11:40 AM.
Children, as
well as adults, are more prepared and do better in the morning
for these types of procedures.
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Operative appointments
(fillings, extractions, etc.) for all children will only be
available during the
morning hours.
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Six-month oral
examination and cleaning appointments for school-age children
will alternate between
school and after school hours. This means you will be asked to
bring your child during school
hours only once or twice per year.
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Repair or broken
appliance appointments will be scheduled during school time.
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Coming in 15 minutes
late for any appointment may require rescheduling so we do not
keep other
patients waiting. Please call if you are going to be late. We
will do our best to work you into our schedule. This
will be considered a Broken
Appointment.
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If for any reason you
fail to come or cancel for an after school appointment, the
missed appointment
will be rescheduled during school time so that we may maintain
the pattern of every other
appointment after school.
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We reserve the right
to charge a $42.00 missed appointment fee for broken/missed
appointments.
Broken appointments affect many people. If two (2) broken/missed
appointments occur or two (2)
cancellations without 24 hour notice, our office reserves the
right to not schedule any subsequent
appointments.
Your
cooperation in complying with these guidelines is appreciated. We
are concerned with school policies and believe these schedules will
best benefit every patient. It is our desire to serve each and every
one of you without causing your child to miss extensive school time.
We appreciate you choosing our office for your child's dental care.
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Payment Policy
Please familiarize yourself with the information that follows. If
you have any questions please feel free to ask our business office staff.
Please be aware that the parent bringing the child to our office is legally
responsible for payment of all charges. We cannot send statements to other
persons. We ask that you pay the cost of the initial examination and any
necessary dental x-rays on the day of that appointment. We accept cash,
personal check, MasterCard, VISA, American Express, or Discover.
Please understand that financial arrangements are made directly with
you. For the convenience of our patients, the following alternatives
are available for possible financial arrangements.
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Payment in full for
each appointment as services is rendered. We accept cash,
personal check,
MasterCard, VISA, American Express, or Discover.
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Dental Insurance -
There is no direct relationship between our office and your
insurance company.
Your insurance benefits are determined by the type of plan
chosen by you and/or your employer. As
such, we have no say in the selection of your insurance company,
no control over the terms of your contract, the methods of
reimbursement or the determination of your insurance benefits.
Therefore, we do not accept assignment of benefits from your
insurance company. Any reimbursements by your company should be
made directly to you according to the terms of your contract
with them. Pre-treatment Authorization: Some insurance companies
recommend an estimate of the work to be done and the fees to be
charged before determining their benefits to you. If so, we will
be glad to provide a pretreatment fee estimate. In this case, it
will be up to you to determine if you wish to proceed with
treatment before the insurance benefit is determined.
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Appliances - One-half
(1/2) the cost of the appliance must be paid on the day your
child's teeth impressions are taken. This is necessary because
our office must pay the lab bills when appliances are ordered,
not when they are completed. The remainder of the cost of the
appliance is due on the day of
delivery to your child.
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Emergency treatment -
All emergency treatment must be paid in full at the time the
service is rendered.
There
may be special circumstances in which we accept assignment of
benefits from your insurance company but please remember, even if
you have insurance coverage, you are responsible for payment of your
account. Please realize that your insurance coverage is a
relationship between you, the insured patient, and your insurance
company. Your understanding and cooperation with this matter is
greatly appreciated. You are helping to keep our overhead expenses,
in the form of direct and labor costs, down. In addition, you are
helping keep your fees as low as possible.
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Insurance Facts
Fact 1 - NO INSURANCE PAYS 100% OF ALL PROCEDURES
Dental insurance is meant to be an aid in receiving dental care. Many
patients think that their insurance pays 90%-100% of all dental fees. This
is not true! Most plans only pay between 50%-80% of the average total fee.
Some pay more, some pay less. The percentage paid is usually determined by
how much you or your employer has paid for coverage or the type of contract
your employer has set up with the insurance company.
Fact 2 - BENEFITS ARE NOT DETERMINED BY OUR OFFICE
You may have noticed that sometimes your dental insurer reimburses you or
the dentist at a lower rate than the dentist's actual fee. Frequently,
insurance companies state that the reimbursement was reduced because your
dentist's fee has exceeded the usual, customary, or reasonable fee ("UCR")
used by the company.
A statement such as this gives the impression that any fee greater than the
amount paid by the insurance company is unreasonable or well above what most
dentists in the area charge for a certain service. This can be very
misleading and simply is not accurate.
Insurance companies set their own schedules and each company uses a
different set of fees they consider allowable. These allowable fees may vary
widely because each company collects fee information from claims it
processes. The insurance company then takes this data and arbitrarily
chooses a level they call the "allowable" UCR Fee. Frequently this data can
be three to five years old and these "allowable" fees are set by the
insurance company so they can make a net 20%-30% profit.
Unfortunately, insurance companies imply that your dentist is "overcharging"
rather than say that they are "underpaying" or that their benefits are low.
In general, the less expensive insurance policy will use a lower usual,
customary, or reasonable (UCR) figure.
Fact 3 - DEDUCTIBLES & CO-PAYMENTS MUST BE CONSIDERED
When estimating dental benefits, deductibles and percentages must be
considered. To illustrate, assume the fee for service is $150.00. Assuming
that the insurance company allows $150.00 as its usual and customary (UCR)
fee, we can figure out what benefits will be paid. First a deductible (paid
by you), on average $50, is subtracted, leaving $100.00. The plan then pays
80% for this particular procedure. The insurance company will then pay 80%
of $100.00, or $80.00. Out of a $150.00 fee they will pay an estimated
$80.00 leaving a remaining portion of $70.00 (to be paid by the patient). Of
course, if the UCR is less than $150.00 or your plan pays only at 50% then
the insurance benefits will also be significantly less.
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Office FAQ
Why don’t you file or work with my insurance?
All insurance plans will “work” with our office. There is no
direct relationship between our office and your insurance company. Your
insurance benefits are determined by the type of plan chosen by you and/or
your employer. As such, we have no say in the selection of your insurance
company, no control over the terms, the method of reimbursement or the
determination of your insurance benefits. Therefore we do not accept
assignment of benefits from your insurance company. Please see our Payment
Policy. As pediatric dentists and staff treating your children, we want 100%
control over the treatment, procedures, x-rays, etc… we recommend as Board
Certified professionals. We will recommend only what we feel is necessary,
not what your insurance policy dictates for your child. Your understanding
and cooperation with this is greatly appreciated. You are helping keep our
expenses, in the form of direct and labor costs, down. In addition, you are
helping keep your fees as low as possible. Please also see our policy
regarding dental insurance under Office Policies.
Why do I have to fill out paperwork (the “blue
sheet”) every visit?
In order to safely and effectively treat you child, we need the most current
and accurate health information. Unlike adults, a child’s health may be more
likely to change over a short period of time. These changes or new/different
medicines may cause a physiological or behavioral change that could influence
their visit.
Why can’t my young child (5 years or younger)
come in the afternoon?
Young children, as well as adults, are more physically and emotionally
prepared for appointments such as dental visits. They are better able to
tolerate the various “stimuli” such as the strange noises, tastes and sounds
that occur during an appointment earlier in the day. We are aware school
policies can make it difficult to be out of school for any reason. However,
medical and dental appointments are excused absences with a doctor’s note.
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