In an effort to make sure things run smoothly and your child receives the awesome care they deserve, we have a few office policies in place.
Appointment Times
Your appointment is time that we set aside just for your child. We’ll remind you with a text and/or confirmation call, as a courtesy. If you need to cancel or reschedule, please give us 24 hours’ notice. When the office is closed, our answering service is always available to take your message.
For appointments that remain unconfirmed 24 hours prior to the scheduled time, Innovative Pediatric Dentistry reserves the right to cancel and remove appointment(s) from the practice calendar in an effort to accommodate patients with emergencies and patients who are on a waiting list. For your convenience, we accept appointment confirmations by phone call, text message and/or email.
We kindly request that you arrive on time for your scheduled appointment. If you are more than 10 minutes late, we may need to reschedule that appointment. We value our patients and strive to be respectful of everyone’s time. Your understanding and cooperation with our policy is greatly appreciated.
In our practice, we occasionally find it necessary to invest beyond standard appointment time in the management of certain sensitive patients. This may be due to medical, emotional, or behavioral issues. We are more than willing to provide this service; however there is a charge of an additional behavior management fee. This fee is related to the cost of committing the time and staff to achieve the optimum outcome for sensitive patients.
Broken Appointments
We consider an appointment to be “broken” when a patient doesn’t show up, is more than 10 minutes late or calls less than 24 hours in advance to cancel or reschedule. We know things come up and life happens, which is why there’s no charge the first time. If you’re running late or can’t give us 24 hours’ notice, call us as soon as you can to let us know. Repeated occurrences could result in a loss of appointment privileges.
Financial
By signing below, you agree to be responsible for payment of all services rendered on your behalf or your dependents. You agree that you shall be responsible for any and all expenses incurred at this office, and understand that payment is due at the time of service unless other arrangements have been made and any expenses such as attorney fees if engaged for the purpose of collections may by added to your account. If separated or divorced, the parent bringing the children to the appointment is responsible for all deductible and copay occurred on the date of service.
Returned Checks
All checks returned to us by your bank for Insufficient Funds will result in a charge of $35.00 and is due immediately including the amount of your check. After the first returned check, payments will then need to be made by cash, money order or by certified check.
Insurance
Your insurance is a contract between you and your employer and the insurance company. Our relationship is with you, the patient, and not the insurance company. Therefore, you, the account guarantor, are ultimately financially responsible for all services provided, including services that are not covered by your policy.
As a courtesy, we will file your dental insurance and will verify your insurance eligibility, we are not able to always obtain coverage per procedure. This does not guarantee payment of your benefit but only tells us that you are eligible today. If anything changes in the future, your benefits may be reduced or denied. Please notify us of any changes to your insurance at least 24-48 hours prior to your upcoming scheduled appointment otherwise you will be responsible for the days services provided at the office fee total. We will estimate your benefits but if payments are ever denied or the insurance company fails to pay its portion, you are responsible for the entire fee. Innovative Pediatric Dentistry and its affiliates will be unable to accept any out of network insurance policies outside of the United States; patients that have said insurance will be expected to pay out of pocket at time of service in full for rendered services.
If you have both a primary and a secondary dental insurance, we will submit all necessary paperwork to the secondary insurance following payment from primary. However, due to the extended processing time period (sometimes up to 3 months) and the stricter limitation guidelines, such as non-duplication clauses, we will ask you to pay the balances following primary payment. By signing below you understand that any and all services provided will be based on your primary dental insurance payment only.
