Our Payment Policy

 

 

Fees incurred are due in full when services are rendered.  They are entirely the patient/parent/guarantor’s responsibility.  Payments can be made by the following options:

 

1. We accept cash, check, Mastercard or Visa at the time of service.

 

2. You are responsible for the balance of all treatment. We will file your insurance for you as a courtesy. Please understand that we are not a part of any insurance networks, and that the insurance policy is a contract between you and the insurance company. We recommend treatment based on necessity and not what your policy covers. You are responsible for any portion that the insurance does not cover. All Delta Dental and Federal BlueCross Blue Shield policy holders will be required to pay in full at the time of service, with you being reimbursed directly from that insurance company. If your child/children requires dental treatment beyond the standard cleaning and exam, payment of 30% of that days total is due at time of visit. If, for any reason, the insurance does not pay within forty-five (45) days, the balance is then due and payable in full by the parent/guarantor.

 

3. The parent or guardian who brings the child to the office is responsible for payment in full. All statements will be sent to this individual. We will not bill a third party.

 

4. In the unfortunate event we have to seek an outside collection agency for

unpaid balances, the parent/guardian will be responsible for any collection

and/or attorney fees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Office Policy Regarding Dental Insurance

 

By law, your insurance company is required to pay each claim within 30 days of receipt.  We file all claims electronically so your insurance company will receive each claim within a day of the treatment.

 

PLEASE UNDERSTAND that we file dental insurance as a courtesy to our patients.  We do not have a contract with your insurance company, only you do.  We are not responsible for how your insurance company handles its claims or for what benefits they pay on a claim.  We can only assist you in estimating your portion of the cost of treatment.  We at no time guarantee what your insurance will or will not do with each claim.  We also can not be responsible for any errors your insurance company makes when they are entering your claim information.

 

Not all insurance policies pay 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 plans do 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.

 

Benefits are not determined by our office – You may have noticed that sometimes your dental insurance 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, customer, or reasonable fee (“UCR”) used by the insurance company.

 

A statement such as this gives the impression that any fee greater than the amount paid by the insurance is unreasonable or well above what most dentist 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.  The 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 ”under paying” or that their benefits are low.  In general, the less expensive insurance policy will use a lower usual, customary, or reasonable (UCR) figure.