Dr. Robert Renger, DDS, LLC

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2016/11/29) */
Our practice charges all patients the same, regardless of whether they have insurance or not. The recommendation for treatment is based on each individual patient's needs. The patient's complaint that we didn't provide a "free cleaning" is not...

valid because of the fact that we are not a charitable dental clinic. Our office financial policy is very clear that payment is due at the time of services. The patient was provided a copy of this policy that he had signed. We do file a patient's dental insurance claim for them after treatment is provided as a courtesy to our patients. What we can't control is what the insurance company will pay on behalf of the patient for services rendered. This decision is entirely up to the insurance company and the contract that the patient has with his insurance company. All of this particular patient's treatment was covered treatment by his insurance, but due to his policy limitations, his insurance didn't cover the entire balance of his services. It is not legal for us to accept insurance reimbursement and not collect patient deductibles, copays, etc. The patients EOB (Explanation of Benefits) clearly states what the insurance paid, the deductible amounts, and the patient responsibility. Our practice holds the laws of insurance billing, accounting, and collections in very high regard on a daily basis, so this patient's complaint of our office doing "borderline illegal" activity is completely false and actually slanderous. We understand the patient's frustration with having a balance after his insurance company didn't pay all of his "free cleaning", but that is not in our control and we recommend the patient voice his frustrations with his insurance company that he was under the assumption would provide him the "free cleanings". If he needs any information from us to help him address his issues with his insurance company, we would be more than happy to provide that for him.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2016/11/30) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
In regards to the "borderline illegal" comment, I'm not a lawyer and it was my opinion. That comment was related to your staff telling me that it would be covered and it not be. If it's not illegal, it is alt least bad practice and wrong! Again,I was told by your staff that this would be covered by my insurance and would be covered under my plans coverage. For me to receive a bill after being told I wouldn't is absurd! But, there's other dentists out there and word of mouth is powerful. After all, it is your practice and you can run it how you want, whether it is right or not.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2016/12/08) */
Our practice has taken this complaint very seriously and have investigated it to our fullest extent by reviewing all records and interviewing all staff that had contact with this patient either over the phone or in person. At this time, no wrong doing, malicious intent, or violation of office policies have been discovered. We deeply regret that the communication between this patient and our practice seemed to have fallen short of his expectations somehow. We strive to achieve 100% patient satisfaction with all of our patients. We routinely analyze all our patient reviews and get 99% positive feedback. The less than 1% reviews that are not 100% positive are quickly followed up with to make sure that it is not something we need to correct. In analyzing the hundreds of patient reviews we have, we have not come upon a similar patient complaint that suggests we have a problem in our office as this patient has outlined. We apologize to this patient that our practice has failed to create the value of our services somehow. We would love to keep him as a patient and try and earn his trust and better prove to him the value of our services if he would be willing. We would love to talk with him about how we could try and accomplish that for him. He is free to call us if he so desires to explore this option. But as for his desired resolution of "I want the balance of this "free cleaning" to be removed...", we can unfortunately not grant his request do to our business obligation to follow insurance laws, rules, and regulations regarding insurance deductibles, copays, and patient responsibility. That is completely out of our control and we again suggest that he have further discussions with his insurance company regarding his coverage and benefits. This may help him in the future as well, whether he seeks services with us or any other dental office.
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 11, 2016/12/09) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
The remaining balance is not a copay..... it is an amount above the customary billable amount. From what I understand, the practice of waiving fees becomes unethical/illegal when it becomes a routine practice of waiving copay amounts or other amounts that would in turn cost an insurance company less. If this amount is waived, it would not effect the amount of responsibility from the insurance company, their amount payed to wouldn't be changed. The good their 100% maximum no matter what, this is just excess of their 100%. For example, if the bill was [redacted] and they paid 80% and I paid 20%, their amount would change. Again, this was paid 100% of the customary billable amount and your charges were excess of their 100% pod amount.
As far as fully investigating my complaint, I believe you may have. As far as me being told what I was told and receiving an unexpected bill..... I believe that too. To someone who this doesn't effect like it has me (financially), maybe they didn't remember telling me what they told me in passing conversation. When you say that you have had no complaint like this, that is hard to prove or disprove because privacy standards prevent you from disclosing this. And it's not surprising that you don't have any negative feedback, I was blocked on [redacted] by your company and my feedback was hidden because of being blocked, that is pretty shady. I feel that if you did do this to anyone who has a problem, then your feedback will fall in your favor.
Lastly, I will not be coming back to your practice. In my opinion, if you really wanted to keep me as a patient and were concerned about this issue, you would grant my request. I will no be contacting your office and request that if you need to contact me that you feel free to. Reiterating that word of mount is a powerful tool in healthcare, I would like to end this saying that I still feel that I have been wronged and that I don't agree with your practice's response to my complaint.