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Appointment Scheduling
| Insurance
| Finances
| CareCredit
Our Practice
Philosophy
Our goal is to
provide your child with the highest quality dental care possible in a
nurturing environment. We sincerely believe that we provide a
positive dental experience that will help your child achieve optimal
dental health for a lifetime.
In our
office, each child is recognized as a special person with their own
needs.
We encourage their active participation in the visit by asking questions
about school, hobbies, friends, or anything special they would like to
share with us. Before any procedures are started, we show and tell
your child what we are going to do. This relaxed approach helps
relieve anxiety there may be about the visit.
Our staff is one of the most
positive contributions to our practice. We take great pride in each team
member’s training and capabilities in working with children and their
parents. We have wonderful people who will help make visits memorable.
ALLGRINS4KIDS has as a play area for
children. We maintain a latex-free environment. Compliance with OSHA and
the CDC are maintained through an out of office management system.
ALLGRINS4KIDS is limited to the care
of infants, children, teenagers and handicapped persons. We enjoy
children and have a kid-friendly environment. Our focus is on prevention
in order to promote a lifetime of good oral health. Because our patients
are children, parents or guardians will be included in patient
education, care planning, and treatment. Therefore, a parent or legal
guardian must accompany their child to all appointments.
Appointment Scheduling
Our office attempts to schedule appointments at your convenience and when
time is available. In a practice limited to care of children, all
appointments cannot be made after school hours. Children are fresher and
have more resources for coping in the mornings. Therefore, certain
morning appointments are necessary. We realize that occasionally this
may inconvenience some parents, but it is the child we must always
consider.
We believe that education is important for all children and want to limit
absences from school. Toothaches can affect a child’s ability to
concentrate and learn. The best way to maintain good dental health is
for the child to receive routine preventive care. This is one of the
reasons for mandatory dental exams for Illinois schools children. Thus,
any dental appointment, like medical appointments, is an excused absence
with a signed note from our office
Since appointed times are reserved exclusively for each patient, we ask
that you please be early for your appointment. In order to maintain a
well-run office, we request that you make any appointment cancellations
at least 48 hours in advance. This ensures that you’ll avoid being
billed for our time and preparation; it also enables us to work in other
patients’ emergency visits. We reserve the right to charge a missed
appointment fee for broken/missed appointments. Broken appointments
affect many people. If two (2) broken/missed appointments occur or two
(2) cancellations without 48 hour notice, our office reserves the right
to require prepayment before scheduling future appointments. We realize
that unexpected things can happen, but we ask for your assistance in
this regard.
As a courtesy, our office will attempt to contact you for confirmation 1-2
days before your appointment. Also, our office mails postcards prior to
routine preventive appointments made 6 months before the appointment.
However, we do ask that you assume responsibility for your appointment
time.
Your cooperation in complying with these guidelines is appreciated. We
are concerned primarily with your child’s oral health, as well as taking
your schedule into consideration. We believe these guidelines will best
benefit every patient. It is our desire to serve each and every one of
you without causing undue hardship for anyone. Thank your choosing our
office for your child's dental care.
Insurance
- Our Office Policy Regarding Dental Benefit Plans
(Insurance)
PLEASE UNDERSTAND that we file dental claims as a courtesy to our
patients. Claims are filed electronically to expedite communication with
your insurance company. You will be responsible for any deductibles,
co-payments, or balances not covered by insurance. Our office will
attempt to contact your insurance before your appointment and inform you
of the estimated costs of treatment, to avoid any surprises. So, it
important for you to keep us informed of any insurance changes such as
policy name, insurance company address, or a change of employment.
Filing your insurance is not a guarantee of payment for the service(s)
performed. We have no way of knowing if, or what, your insurance
company will pay until the actual claim is submitted. Therefore, all
account balances which have not been paid are the responsibility of the
parent/guardian. Dental insurance is meant to be an "aid" in receiving
dental care. Our office bases treatment on your child's needs, not what
your insurance will pay. Insurance payments are determined by the
benefit package that your employer purchased.
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
Fact 1 - NO INSURANCE PAYS 100% OF ALL PROCEDURES
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
determined by the 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, some 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.
Fact 4 – FREQUENCIES & LIMITATIONS OF BENEFITS
The frequency of payment for some procedures may be limited by an
insurance company. This is most often encountered in a pediatric dental
office with fluoride treatments. The American Dental Association and the
American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry recommend the application of
fluoride every 6 months since it is proven to be highly effective
against tooth decay. Our office follows those recommendations in order
to achieve optimal oral health for your child. Therefore, if an
insurance plan limits the frequency of the fluoride treatment, the
parent will be responsible for this cost. This can also be encountered
with other procedures, such as x-rays and sealants.
AllGrins4Kids is an in-network
provider for the following insurance programs:
Please remember that we are a third party to your insurance company and
accept most insurances as a courtesy to you. We can not be responsible
for keeping up with the ever changing policies of each individual
insurance plan. We prefer to spend our time treating the children that
come into our office.
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Finances
Payment for professional services is due at the time dental treatment is
provided. Every effort will be made to provide a treatment plan
which gives your child the best care possible and considers your
timetable and budget, 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. Please understand that
financial arrangements are made directly with you. We accept cash,
personal check, and most debit and major credit cards.
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. If you have any questions
please feel free to ask our business office staff
CareCredit Our office offers CareCredit which is a credit card
designed to help pay for procedures and treatments.
There are three different ways to apply for
CareCredit. If you are in our office just ask us for an
application. If you are at home you can visit
www.carecredit.com
to fill out the online patient application or call
1-800-365-8295 and follow the prompts to apply. For more
information, visit
www.carecredit.com.
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