Office Policies

APPOINTMENT CANCELLATION POLICY

We strive to render excellent dental care to you and the rest of our patients. To be consistent with this, we have an Appointment Cancellation Policy that allows us to schedule appointments for all patients. When an appointment is scheduled, that time has been reserved for you and when it is missed, that time cannot be used to treat another patient. Our policy is as follows. 

 

• We require that you give our office 48 hours’ notice if you need to reschedule your appointment. This allows for other patients to be scheduled into that appointment. If you miss an appointment without contacting our office within the required time, this is considered a missed appointment.
• A fee of $50.00 per scheduled hour will be charged to you; this fee cannot be billed to your insurance company. In which, will be your direct responsibility. 
• No future appointments will be scheduled without the payment of this fee. Additionally, if a patient is more than 10 minutes late without prior notice for a scheduled appointment, a fee may apply.  We will consider this as a missed appointment, in which the cancellation fee will be charged. If you have any questions regarding this policy, please let our staff know.  We will be glad to answer any questions you may have. We thank you for your patronage.
• If you have a dental appointment scheduled with our office on a Monday or a Tuesday, be aware that you will NEED to make any changes before 12 Noon on the Thursday prior to the scheduled appointment time and date.
• Messages and electronic correspondence received after the requested time will not be considered adequate notice and the fee will apply.

 

Thank you for choosing Dr. Altrock and Dr. Fabb’s dental practice.  We are dedicated to making every effort to accommodate your scheduling needs. In return, we ask that you help us by arriving on time to your scheduled appointment time and date.  We understand and value your time, as well, as ours.

PAYMENTS

Please note that payment including any co-pay, is required at time of service.

Returned checks will incur a $50 fee.

PAST DUE ACCOUNT BALANCES

All accounts that have and/or show a patient or responsible party balance over 120 days past due (with contact to patient/responsible party) and/or statements sent without response from patient/responsible party are subject to our account/collections departments discretion. These balances may be pulled from our in-office teams ability to assist you with your balance and or possible questions. The balance may be sent to our collection department.  As a reminder with health care reform and insurance federal/state laws (fair truth and lending laws)  unpaid balances are not at the dental offices discretion to adjust, write off and or discount in any way for patients that carry and/or utilize any type of insurance.  This applies to non-insured patients as well.

 

Questions about services not covered on the balances should be directed to your dental insurance provider, FIRST, before contacting the office directly.  A full itemized statement from our office will be sent to you, to better assist you with the call to your insurance provider, should you need to contact them.

ANY CORRESPONDENCE YOU RECEIVE FROM YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY IS NOT A BILL FROM OUR OFFICE.

IT IS JUST AN EXPLANATION OF SERVICES RENDERED FROM YOUR DENTAL INSURANCE COMPANY. GENERALLY THE PATIENT PORTION SHOWED BEING OWED ON THAT EXPLANATION OF SERVICES IS MUCH HIGHER THAN WHAT WE ACTUALLY COLLECT OR ESTIMATE FOR OUR PATIENTS. WE ASK THAT YOU DO NOT MAKE PAYMENT TO OUR OFFICE BASED ON DOCUMENTATION FROM YOUR DENTAL INSURANCE (ELIGIBILITY OF BENEFITS). THE ONLY TIME YOU WILL NEED TO MAKE PAYMENT TO OUR OFFICE DIRECTLY IS IF YOU RECEIVED A BILL FROM OUR OFFICE.

INSURANCE NOTICE 2021 TO PATIENTS

The American Dental Association (ADA) and California Dental Association (CDA) have released new CDT-10 Codes and coding procedures for 2021.

 

We wanted to take the opportunity to remind patients that we welcome the use of your dental insurance plans.  With the changes made to 2021 coding and billing procedures it is important to remember that your insurance company has the final say on what is a covered benefit and what is not.  With the new guidelines from the ADA/CDA, we are required to follow very strict coding policies with regards to the federal and state level CDT-10 coding system.

 

One of the most asked questions we get from our patients, families, and friends is…

 

“Does my insurance cover it?”

 

(When it comes to recommended procedures and codes being used for documenting services completed or recommended.)

 

We understand the importance of utilizing your dental benefits to the maximum to keep out of pocket expenses to a minimum for our patients, families, and friends.  We strive for excellence in our practice and hope that patients understand that the “does my insurance cover it” question is valid.  As a reminder, your insurance company will make the ultimate decision on what they choose to cover or not to cover once they receive a dental claim form our office.  This does not mean that your dental insurance company can dictate the needs for your dental care, when you are seeing one of our state licensed staff members.  Insurance is meant to help/assist with your out of pocket expenses, not to dictate what treatment is completed, needed, and recommended.

 

We pride ourselves on our ability to estimate your patient share/co-pay and insurance share with a  high accuracy rate.

Your health and dental well-being are our number one priority.

 

STANDARD DENTAL VISIT/INSURANCE DISCLAIMER

 

This is not a guarantee of coverage or that the coverage amounts shown will remain unchanged until the date services are rendered, and your dental insurance provider has made allowances toward your dental treatment. Any claim submitted is subject to all plan provisions including but not limited to eligibility requirements, exclusions, frequencies and limitations. Coverage will be determined on the basis of the facts existing when services are rendered.  Please remember as a patient you are ultimately responsible for the total of all charges at time of service.  The office will collect your estimated co-pays at your dental visit as a courtesy.  Any remaining unpaid portion by your dental insurance provider after receipt and processing of your dental claim will be billed to you.

 

As a reminder our office has no input with setting procedure/treatment pricing or setting contractual limitations and exclusions. These guidelines are set and created through your dental plan and your employer.  Our office is here to provide you with the highest level of dental treatment possible. We appreciate your understanding in this matter.

 

Thank You

 

Please do not hesitate to ask if you have any questions at all about your dental plan and how the coverage assists you. We are always here to assist you.