We are in receipt of your letter from the complainant, [redacted] ***. While I was not the dentist who saw Ms. [redacted] or her daughter, for some reason the "complaint letter" was addressed to me. Therefore, I am responding. Of first note, our practice is very diligent in how we inform potential patients... about issues with insurance. When a new patient with dental insurance calls our office, one of the first questions usually asked by them, is how or if we work with their insurance. If the patient does not ask, we ask them "if there is any dental insurance that we need to know about." We want to know about any potential problems or issues from the start. Dental Insurance is very different from Medical Insurance. Over 50% of our patients do not even have dental insurance. In addition, there are different types of dental insurance, most that we can work with, some that we cannot. There are a few insurance carriers that we participate with, most that we can work with, but some that require the insured to obtain care at a "closed panel" of dental offices. We don't want any misunderstandings. Our business team is very well versed, and deliberately uses a carefully guided script to avoid any possible misunderstandings. The fact that we have incredibly few complaints of misunderstanding is testament to how seriously we try to ascertain this information. Unfortunately, it seems that some people "hear" what they want to "hear". The terminology for a potential patient, such as Ms. ***, is "we are out of network with your insurance company, but can work with your insurance carrier. You would /will be responsible for any balances that they do not cover". I hear this said almost verbatim on a daily basis. Most of the patients that call our offices for care are seeking the best dentistry available, not the cheapest dentists. If Ms. [redacted] wanted to go to a "in network" insurance dentist, she should have referred to the providers list that is provided with her insurance. Neither The Buffalo Dental Group, nor any of our dentists are on such a list as "participating providers".. We never will be, as we would have to compromise what we do. Our practice is focused on providing the highest level of dental health care that is available anywhere. We have developed innovative leading edge procedures and techniques that are driving the future of dental care. We strive to be the best dentists, not to be the " [redacted] " of dentistry. We literally have hundreds of patients with [redacted] Healthcare, the same insurance that Ms. [redacted] has, that we take great care of, and are very happy with our level of care. Again, we would like to think that it is the best available. When Ms. [redacted] called our office afterward, our Business Manager, Kristen, attempted to resolve the situation and provided a financial courtesy to help solve the situation. Unfortunately, this was not enough to please the patient. As our reputation is very important to us, we will as a courtesy adjust off the remaining balance. Thank you for assistance in getting this resolved. I extend my apologies for the delay in forwarding this response. Very truly yours, Bernard K. DDS
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. It took some effort to resolve it this week and get a refund of my payment but today they wrote the check and I picked it up. Thank you for your attention and persistence with this matter.
Regards,
[redacted]
We are in receipt of your letter from the complainant, [redacted]. While I was not the dentist who saw Ms. [redacted] or her daughter, for some reason the "complaint letter" was addressed to me. Therefore, I am responding. Of first note, our practice is very diligent in how we inform potential patients...
about issues with insurance. When a new patient with dental insurance calls our office, one of the first questions usually asked by them, is how or if we work with their insurance. If the patient does not ask, we ask them "if there is any dental insurance that we need to know about." We want to know about any potential problems or issues from the start. Dental Insurance is very different from Medical Insurance. Over 50% of our patients do not even have dental insurance. In addition, there are different types of dental insurance, most that we can work with, some that we cannot. There are a few insurance carriers that we participate with, most that we can work with, but some that require the insured to obtain care at a "closed panel" of dental offices. We don't want any misunderstandings. Our business team is very well versed, and deliberately uses a carefully guided script to avoid any possible misunderstandings. The fact that we have incredibly few complaints of misunderstanding is testament to how seriously we try to ascertain this information. Unfortunately, it seems that some people "hear" what they want to "hear". The terminology for a potential patient, such as Ms. [redacted], is "we are out of network with your insurance company, but can work with your insurance carrier. You would /will be responsible for any balances that they do not cover". I hear this said almost verbatim on a daily basis. Most of the patients that call our offices for care are seeking the best dentistry available, not the cheapest dentists. If Ms. [redacted] wanted to go to a "in network" insurance dentist, she should have referred to the providers list that is provided with her insurance. Neither The Buffalo Dental Group, nor any of our dentists are on such a list as "participating providers".. We never will be, as we would have to compromise what we do. Our practice is focused on providing the highest level of dental health care that is available anywhere. We have developed innovative leading edge procedures and techniques that are driving the future of dental care. We strive to be the best dentists, not to be the "[redacted]" of dentistry. We literally have hundreds of patients with [redacted] Healthcare, the same insurance that Ms. [redacted] has, that we take great care of, and are very happy with our level of care. Again, we would like to think that it is the best available. When Ms. [redacted] called our office afterward, our Business Manager, Kristen, attempted to resolve the situation and provided a financial courtesy to help solve the situation. Unfortunately, this was not enough to please the patient. As our reputation is very important to us, we will as a courtesy adjust off the remaining balance. Thank you for assistance in getting this resolved. I extend my apologies for the delay in forwarding this response. Very truly yours, Bernard K. DDS
We are in receipt of your letter from the complainant, [redacted] ***. While I was not the dentist who saw Ms. [redacted] or her daughter, for some reason the "complaint letter" was addressed to me. Therefore, I am responding. Of first note, our practice is very diligent in how we inform potential patients... about issues with insurance. When a new patient with dental insurance calls our office, one of the first questions usually asked by them, is how or if we work with their insurance. If the patient does not ask, we ask them "if there is any dental insurance that we need to know about." We want to know about any potential problems or issues from the start. Dental Insurance is very different from Medical Insurance. Over 50% of our patients do not even have dental insurance. In addition, there are different types of dental insurance, most that we can work with, some that we cannot. There are a few insurance carriers that we participate with, most that we can work with, but some that require the insured to obtain care at a "closed panel" of dental offices. We don't want any misunderstandings. Our business team is very well versed, and deliberately uses a carefully guided script to avoid any possible misunderstandings. The fact that we have incredibly few complaints of misunderstanding is testament to how seriously we try to ascertain this information. Unfortunately, it seems that some people "hear" what they want to "hear". The terminology for a potential patient, such as Ms. ***, is "we are out of network with your insurance company, but can work with your insurance carrier. You would /will be responsible for any balances that they do not cover". I hear this said almost verbatim on a daily basis. Most of the patients that call our offices for care are seeking the best dentistry available, not the cheapest dentists. If Ms. [redacted] wanted to go to a "in network" insurance dentist, she should have referred to the providers list that is provided with her insurance. Neither The Buffalo Dental Group, nor any of our dentists are on such a list as "participating providers".. We never will be, as we would have to compromise what we do. Our practice is focused on providing the highest level of dental health care that is available anywhere. We have developed innovative leading edge procedures and techniques that are driving the future of dental care. We strive to be the best dentists, not to be the " [redacted] " of dentistry. We literally have hundreds of patients with [redacted] Healthcare, the same insurance that Ms. [redacted] has, that we take great care of, and are very happy with our level of care. Again, we would like to think that it is the best available. When Ms. [redacted] called our office afterward, our Business Manager, Kristen, attempted to resolve the situation and provided a financial courtesy to help solve the situation. Unfortunately, this was not enough to please the patient. As our reputation is very important to us, we will as a courtesy adjust off the remaining balance. Thank you for assistance in getting this resolved. I extend my apologies for the delay in forwarding this response. Very truly yours, Bernard K. DDS
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. It took some effort to resolve it this week and get a refund of my payment but today they wrote the check and I picked it up. Thank you for your attention and persistence with this matter.
Regards,
[redacted]
We are in receipt of your letter from the complainant, [redacted]. While I was not the dentist who saw Ms. [redacted] or her daughter, for some reason the "complaint letter" was addressed to me. Therefore, I am responding. Of first note, our practice is very diligent in how we inform potential patients...
about issues with insurance. When a new patient with dental insurance calls our office, one of the first questions usually asked by them, is how or if we work with their insurance. If the patient does not ask, we ask them "if there is any dental insurance that we need to know about." We want to know about any potential problems or issues from the start. Dental Insurance is very different from Medical Insurance. Over 50% of our patients do not even have dental insurance. In addition, there are different types of dental insurance, most that we can work with, some that we cannot. There are a few insurance carriers that we participate with, most that we can work with, but some that require the insured to obtain care at a "closed panel" of dental offices. We don't want any misunderstandings. Our business team is very well versed, and deliberately uses a carefully guided script to avoid any possible misunderstandings. The fact that we have incredibly few complaints of misunderstanding is testament to how seriously we try to ascertain this information. Unfortunately, it seems that some people "hear" what they want to "hear". The terminology for a potential patient, such as Ms. [redacted], is "we are out of network with your insurance company, but can work with your insurance carrier. You would /will be responsible for any balances that they do not cover". I hear this said almost verbatim on a daily basis. Most of the patients that call our offices for care are seeking the best dentistry available, not the cheapest dentists. If Ms. [redacted] wanted to go to a "in network" insurance dentist, she should have referred to the providers list that is provided with her insurance. Neither The Buffalo Dental Group, nor any of our dentists are on such a list as "participating providers".. We never will be, as we would have to compromise what we do. Our practice is focused on providing the highest level of dental health care that is available anywhere. We have developed innovative leading edge procedures and techniques that are driving the future of dental care. We strive to be the best dentists, not to be the "[redacted]" of dentistry. We literally have hundreds of patients with [redacted] Healthcare, the same insurance that Ms. [redacted] has, that we take great care of, and are very happy with our level of care. Again, we would like to think that it is the best available. When Ms. [redacted] called our office afterward, our Business Manager, Kristen, attempted to resolve the situation and provided a financial courtesy to help solve the situation. Unfortunately, this was not enough to please the patient. As our reputation is very important to us, we will as a courtesy adjust off the remaining balance. Thank you for assistance in getting this resolved. I extend my apologies for the delay in forwarding this response. Very truly yours, Bernard K. DDS