Ascent Dental Group

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 7, 2015/10/06) */
Ascent Dental provides a warranty on our cerec crowns for 6 years with 6 month visit done to evaluate current oral conditions. The Patient [redacted] did not return to our office since her crown was placed on 08/23/2012. When her...

insurance processed the claim they had requested additional information thus resulting in multiple EOB'S being sent to the patient. The patient accused office double billing her insurance it was explained to patient. Patient stood her ground thinking we were double paid. Initially her insurance did not pay her build up but they did come back and sent additional payment. The patient argued the fee for the CEREC ($50) thus resulting in the doctor writing off the cerec fee for her for both Cerec Crowns done in our office. On October 9th, 2012 the patient was again told about our warranty on our crowns by the business Manager [redacted]. Patient called September 17, 2015 and spoke with [redacted] asked [redacted] how long we warranty our cerec crowns? [redacted]'s response was we warranty our crowns for 6 years. Not that anything would be done for free. [redacted] is new to our office and asked to give the patient a call back once she could get her more information. [redacted] was the only one in office that day. The following Monday when the staff returned, we returned [redacted]'s call and let her know that the warranty on her crown had been voided due to her never returning to our office but we would be more than happy to see her and evaluate what needed to be done. The patient stated we should have to cover the crown if the crown is faulty as she has had exams done 4 times per year. If the crown had been faulty we would have hoped to be notified prior to the crown chipping 3 years later. We have not seen the patient since 2012. The consent form for treatment states the warranty of her crown. Ascent Dental Group emailed these copies to the patient. We are a chart less office, with electronic signature pads. There were two Jpeg files per consent form because the consent form not only list the consent form information but all the procedure codes and fee's. On the second page is the patient signature and the assistant signature. When printed it is two pieces of paper. All consent forms appear this way because they are electronic files. The date is electronically time stamps. Once a previous month is closed out our system does not allow you to go back to the previous month to change anything. When the patient was seen in 2012 we were a contracted provider and used [redacted]'s contracted fee's we were only paid $605.80 of her $1000.00 maximum. So we are unaware on were she may have used her remaining benefits however, the patient believes we double billed. This is not true. There was never a refund processed for her insurance on her account in our office for the insurance to reinstate benefits. Even though the patients warranty had been voided Dr. [redacted] agreed to honor the fee's that were charged to her in 2012 and discount those fee's 50%. The patient was not happy with this agreement she had stated she may consider paying 50% of that fee or materials fee "whichever is less". She sent an email at a later time telling Dr. [redacted] she would consider paying 50% only IF her insurance paid the other 50% to reduce financial burden on her. I let her know if we are contracted with her insurance we are not able to do that if we are billing the insurance company. That would be considered fraud and Dr. [redacted] would not be willing to commit fraud to reduce the financial burden on her. The patient did not inform us which insurance company she is currently with. We have offered to replace the crown for $484.50 this is 50% off the fee charged to her in 2012. In the patients warranty it does state there are no cash refunds. There is a 95.5% success rate by the manufacturer for 9 years. However, there still is a 4.5% chance of failure. There are many different variables that may or may not have caused this crown to chip. Is the patient grinding, has there been trauma, is there recurrent decay, etc. This is why Dr. [redacted] has a warranty for 6 years with the requirements or 6 month exams. The patient had threatened us with threats to go to the Revdex.com if we did not lower the fee for her. NOT because she felt we were a bad office because she was willing to return to see Dr. [redacted] to have him replace the chipped crown but because she wanted the fee lowered to reduce the financial burden on her. Dr. [redacted] is a very fair dentist and goes above and beyond to help his patients. This warranty/consent is in place to have a set warranty on treatment done in office so patients are clear prior to treatment preformed. I have attached all email records between the patient and our office, the patient ledger, the email from 2012 informing the patient of the warranty before she was due to come back for the 6 month exam, the emails to Dr. [redacted]. We would be more than happy to see the patient at a 50% discount of the fees in 2012 $484.50 OR we can work through her current insurance honoring their fee's working with the patient's coverage, whichever is less.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 13, 2015/10/07) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Ascent dental is asking me to pay the same out of pocket cost I paid in the beginning. Originally my insurance covered 50% of the total, making my cost $484.50 and that is exactly what they are asking me to pay now. Why would I pay 50% to a dentist who I know didnt do a good job when I can pay 50% (insurance covers other 50%)to a different dentist who will possibly do a good job? I don't think I should have to pay anything for a botched procedure that could possibly getbotched again and if the new crown broke in 3 years as this one did then my insurance would not allow another crown for 2 years (since they only allow crowns every 5 years. At this point, I would allow Dr [redacted] to replace the crown at no charge. If it breaks again, at least I will still have my insurance to get it replaced at a different dentists office
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 18, 2015/10/15) */
Ascent Dental has NOT offered "a couple different solutions" - They have only offered that I pay the same out of pocket cost I paid to begin with. As far as the warranty goes; refer back to my original complaint regarding its authenticity. At this point I feel this is a matter of greed on the part of a dentist who is not willing to take responsible for a botched procedure that he himself guaranteed for 6 years but it only lasted 3 years. - Ascent claims to offer "high quality work with a required 6 month exam" and as I stated previously, I see my dentist quarterly for perio maintenance. Also, since there was no way of predicting that the crown would break while chewing gum, regular office visits would not have changed the outcome anyway since cerec crowns can not be repaired, they have to be replaced per my current dentist.- Since Ascent Dental is not willing to honor their own guarantee, I would propose this complaint be close as UNRESOLVED.- In closing Ascent Dental never inquired about the condition of my mouth nor did they show any concern about the possibility of an infection due to the exposed tooth
Final Business Response /* (4000, 21, 2015/10/21) */
We have offered to discount the fee's that were paid in 2012. The patient used their insurance at the time of service. The insurance paid 50% as a courtesy for the patient to reduce the financial burden on her. We have discounted those fee's 50% and would only collect half of the total fee charged the remaining half would be written off. We also offered to use her current insurance if it was less out of pocket for the patient. We cannot discount fees if we are billing to an insurance company as that would be insurance fraud. We REQUIRE that the exams be done in our office not done by another Doctor who doesn't work with CEREC crowns. If the crown was a "botched procedure" the patient's current dentist would have made the patient aware of the "botched procedure" and recommended appropriate treatment prior to the crown breaking 3 years later. If the patient had up kept with her periodic exams and the crown broke while chewing gum, the crown would be replaced at no charge. However, since the patient chose to disregard the warranty policy that is in place as a COURTSEY to our patients and did not return to our office after the crown was placed the warranty has been voided. Dr. [redacted] has requested the patient to come in and be seen several times. We stated we needed to do our own exam prior to starting treatment. Dr. [redacted] as a courtesy to the patient has applied a discount to these fees even though the patient's entire warranty has been voided. Dr. [redacted] and the staff at Ascent Dental Group have tried to schedule patient to see Dr. [redacted] however, patient refused to come in unless we come to an agreement to do the treatment for free. This is not something that we are willing to do. Dr. [redacted] regularly goes above and beyond for his patients on a daily basis. He will find means for patients to complete their treatment if financial needs are holding them back. Greed is not and will never be an issue in our office. He is willing to discount the fee's 50% of honor the patient's current insurance fee and work with insurance. Those are two options. Doing the services for free is NOT an option as the patient ignored our warranty. Patient is stating "facts" that she obtained by an online search of Cerec. If the patient desires she is more than welcome to contact Cerec directly as Dr. [redacted] and Ascent Dental Group followed all protocol for the placement of a Cerec crown.