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Our office is dedicated to the oral
health care of general public. Our
goal is to help make clients' dental care as easy,
comfortable and enjoyable as possible. Our office
design and equipments offer a warm welcome to our clients.
Adjacent to our clinic is
Dr. Maria
Aganon-Fu's clinic where children can join the No Cavity Club, watch
quality videos while having treatment and pick out a
treat from our happy tooth treasure chest, etc..
Office
Hours
Monday-Thursday 8am - 5pm
How are Appointments
Scheduled?
The office attempts to schedule
appointments at your convenience and when time is
available.
Since appointed times are reserved
exclusively for each patient we ask that you please
notify our office 24 hours in advance of your scheduled
appointment time if you are unable to keep your
appointment. Another patient who needs our care could be
scheduled if we have sufficient time to notify them. We
realize that unexpected things can happen, but we ask
for your assistance in this regard.
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What About
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
fits your timetable and budget, and gives you the
best possible care. We accept cash, personal checks,
debit cards and most major credit cards.
Financing available through
Care Credit.
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Our Office Policy
Regarding Dental Insurance
If we have received all of your
insurance information on the day of the appointment, we
will be happy to file your claim for you. You must be
familiar with your insurance benefits, as we will
collect from you the estimated amount insurance is not
expected to pay. By law your insurance company is
required to pay each claim within 30 days of receipt. We
file all insurance electronically so your insurance
company will receive each claim within days of the
treatment. You are responsible for any balance on your
account after 30 days, whether insurance has paid or
not. If you have not paid your balance within 60 days a
finance charge of 1.5% will be added to your account
each month until paid. We will be glad to send a refund
to you once insurance has paid us.
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 in filing your
insurance, once again we file claims as a courtesy to
you.
Fact 1 - NO INSURANCE PAYS 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 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.
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, 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.
MOST IMPORTANTLY, please keep us
informed of any insurance changes such as policy name,
insurance company address, or a change of employment.
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