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If we
only
provide
Endodontic Evaluation (Limited Evaluation, Consultation):
This
consists of an examination and testing, discussing the likelihood of
maintaining the tooth and treatment options available to you. Payment
is due at the time of service. A statement will be given to you to
help you bill your insurance (except Delta). Please see
I have
insurance, Why do I have to pay for the exam?
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If
we provide Treatment:
Those
without dental insurance: Fifty percent of the total will be
required when we begin treatment and the balance due upon completion of
treatment. If we complete treatment in a single visit, payment is due at
the time of service.
Those with dental insurance:
We will estimate the portion your insurance
is going to pay. Since this varies for each individual, usually 25 - 75% of
the cost of the procedure is required at the time of service. We will bill
your insurance for you.
Please keep in mind
however, insurance companies routinely indicate that coverage verification
does not guarantee payment. This means while we have done our best to
estimate your out of pocket expense, when the insurance company actually
processes the claim, the insurance payment maybe substantially less then
expected. OK, sometimes
it's more
then expected, but nobody ever complains of that!
Please Note
u
If your insurance pays
more than the estimated amount, a
refund check from this office will be mailed within 1 month from the
date payment is received in this office. It's pretty common for the
insurance company to send you information about the claim prior to us
receiving the check. Insurance companies often print checks
biweekly. We typically batch our refunds at the end of the month so it
could be up to 30 days under the worse case scenario after we recieve the
check and before we print your
refund check.
u
If your insurance pays
less than the estimated amount, you
will receive a statement from this office.
We usually do not send monthly statements
so prompt attention is greatly appreciated!
NOTE:
If your insurance
company does not reimburse us after 2 submissions, you will be responsible
for the remainder of the balance since we were unable to collect from them.
For your Convenience we Accept:
Personal Checks, Cashiers Check, and Money
Orders OK too.
Any Questions, Please Ask!
We are unable to
provide in-house financing at this time but do have an external financing
option for those that qualify.
Try
www.carecredit.com and even
apply online!
For
More Information About Insurance and it’s Coverage, See
I have Insurance!
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Canceled, Missed, and Late to
Treatment Appointment Charge |
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Treatment appointments which are
canceled with less then 24 hours notice to our office, missed, or
patients who are late to their appointment will be charged a $250.00
canceled, missed, and late appointment fee.
Like any caring business, we try to put ourselves
into the position of our patients. Unfortunately, we had to
institute a policy change to cover our expenses. It came down to
charging more for those that have treatment to cover those who scheduled
and either did not show for their appointment or canceled with less then
24 hours notice. Instead of cost shifting the expense to those
that had treatment, we have decided that the offenders are the ones that
should be responsible. This includes folks who show up 20 minutes
or greater beyond their appointment time. |
What If?
The fine
print
Most treatments within our office
progress as anticipated. Occasionally we will begin treatment with the best
of intentions and discover a tooth just can’t be maintained. There are many
causes, but some of the more prevalent include a significant crack or
fracture, inability to find canals, or not enough tooth structure to repair
it. Because we complete a thorough exam, we usually will inform you of this
possibility prior to beginning treatment. Once in awhile, a tooth that
seemed to be maintainable will catch us off guard without much warning.
What ever the cause, overhead within the office does NOT allow us to do
these exploratory cases at no charge. Usually, the charge is a minimal,
350 dollars or less. Want to know more? Just ask!
I have
insurance, Why do I have to pay for the examination?
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If we do treatment, we do bill
for the exam. This note is only for those that have an examination
with dental insurance and we don't do treatment.
I would love to tell you dental insurance pays for
everything but it's really an aid. Please see
I have Insurance for more information.
There are so many restrictions on every plan it's difficult for us to
really find out all the nuances.
We call on every insurance and we try to accumulate
as much information as possible. Unfortunately, we are unable to
collect enough of the correct information from the carrier to be
accurate. So we determined that the information provided by the
insurance company in reference to the exam just could not be used for us
to determine the likelihood of being paid for the examination.
Most insurances will only cover 2 examinations per calendar year.
Often one or more is already used by the time folks get to our office.
Some dental insurance programs will just not pay for an examination
prior to endodontic treatment. The list and conditions kept
getting longer and bigger even though we would call and ask trying to do
our part. The insurance companies will say "This is not a
guarantee of benefits."
So when the insurance company does not pay, we are
left trying to explain to folks the reason and attempt to collect which
diverts resources from our primary duty, endodontics!!!!!!
We spent more time trying to collect the exam fee
than the cost of the exam to begin with. This happened in so many
cases that we had to write off a significant amount each year.
Two options existed: 1) Charge more so those that we
collect on shoulder the burden of those that we are unable to collect
from. 2) Collect the fee up front so we could keep our expenses
down and make the examination reasonable.
There was a third option, which was doing less on the
examination, but that goes against my grain.
The examination is absolutely needed for medical and legal reasons.
In addition, we try to inform you as much as possible about potential scenarios and treatment alternatives. If we skimped on the
examination, we would be less likely to give you accurate information
that allows you to make an informed decision. Finally, we try to do our
very best on everything we do. As a consequence, this option
would not work in our office. |
My insurance sent me a note saying they paid.
When do I get my refund?
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Good Question!
It's not unusual for the insurance company to indicate they have paid us
via a note sent to you. Often though, the check is not really
printed and mailed for up to 2 weeks after the notice is printed and
sent. Depending on the date insurance companies batch their checks,
which is typically twice per month, they might send the check or print
it up to 2 weeks after the date of the note. Once in awhile, it will
take 30 days after the note from the insurance company before we
actually receive the check.
We also batch our refund checks sent to our patients.
It's more time efficient. Typically your refund check will be in
the mail within 30 days after we receive it under the worst case
scenario. |
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Joseph S. Dovgan, D.D.S., M.S., P.C.
Practice Limited to Endodontics
10585 N. Tatum Blvd., Suite D-132
Paradise Valley, Arizona 85253 USA
480-483-9001
"Where caring, skill, will and technology intersect while striving for endodontic excellence."
Serving Phoenix, Scottsdale & Paradise Valley, Arizona
Copyright  2000-2004 Joseph S. Dovgan, D.D.S., M.S. All rights reserved.
Website initial design and hosting by  ezSolutions Computers, Data and Internet
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Map and Hours
