Policies

Financial Policy

Usual and Customary Rates

Our practice is committed to providing the best treatment for our patients. Our fees are reviewed and have been determined to be reasonable for our area.

Insurance Billing

We will bill any private dental insurance company for which we receive complete billing information. This does not release patients from their obligation to make sure that the fees are paid to us. The responsibility for payment of fees is the direct obligation of the patient regardless of any insurance payment. We will not bill DSHS or Medicare.

Many patients carry insurance for dental care but few have 100% coverage. Though we may have some knowledge about your specific policy, the number of policies and dental plans are too great for us to keep current with all. Remember, you and your employer purchased the policy and the final decision regarding your benefits is between you and the insurance carrier.

We can help you determine specific coverage of a service by submitting a pre-determination to your insurance company on your behalf. The insurance company may take 4-6 weeks to process the claim.

Third Party Billing

Our policy is NOT to bill a third party. Business, home and auto insurance are all considered third party. We consider patients that have third party relationships to be self pay patients. Please see the self-pay policy listed below.

Self Pay Patients

Patients without insurance are expected to pay at the time of service or when billed. We will extend a courtesy discount of 5% for patients without insurance that pay at the time of service with a check or cash and 3% discount for those who pay with a credit card. After 60 days, bills are considered past due. After 90 days bills will be eligible for transfer to a collection agency. It is your responsibility to contact us with any address and/or insurance changes. To ensure that you are not sent to collections, contact us if you have not received a bill within 30 days of the date of service.

Methods of Payment

We accept cash, check, VISA, and/or MasterCard.

Cancellation Policy

When an appointment is scheduled at our office we reserve that time especially for you. We understand that your time is valuable and we do everything possible to ensure that we are running on time. To help us better serve you, we require a 24 hour notice if you need to reschedule or cancel your appointment. In the case of an emergency, please notify our office as soon as possible if you are unable to make your scheduled time. We thank you for your cooperation.

Our policy is as follows:

• No charge for the first missed appointment.
• Second missed appointment there is a $50.00 charge.
• Third missed appointment there is $100.00 charge.

Privacy Policy

We are committed to protecting your privacy. All information collected from you is protected by federal law under the statutes of the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996. In brief, HIPAA mandates that we protect all identifiable health care information, using it only to:

• Provide and coordinate your treatment between the health care providers who may be involved in that treatment.
• Conduct normal health care operations, which include quality assessment and improvement activities.
• Review our privacy policy acknowledgement form (Notice of Privacy Policy).