McKenna Dental

Review: The dental practice in which myself, and my son had been apart of our whole lives had notified us of closure. I set out in search of a trustworthy dental practice with a good history. I searched on google and asked family and friends, I was pointed to multiple different dental practices in our area. I had called many of these dental providers to be sure they accepted the dental coverage I have been provided and paying for the 2 years I have been with my company. The first 2 providers I called notified me they did NOT accept my coverage, and I thanked them for their time and moved on. When I contacted Dr. McKenna’s office, a young woman answered, I notified her our dentist office had closed and we were looking for a new provider, and continued to ask if they accepted my insurance coverage. The woman on the phone had proceeded to ask another woman next to her, and CONFIRMED they DO accept our coverage. I proceeded to make an appointment for my son and myself. Upon arrival to our appointment, I provided the insurance coverage for my son and myself, and was asked by the secretary if this is covered, I notified her I had previously called and CONFIRMED with this office my insurance coverage was accepted. AT NO TIME WAS I NOTIFIED THAT MY INSURANCE WAS OUT OF NETWORK! If this was stated, which they are required to notify if questioned, I would have moved on with my search or cancelled our appointment Immediately! I pay for coverage out of every paycheck for us and being I was searching for a new provider there would be NO reason I would go OUT OF NETWORK and not utilize my benefits. My mother-in-law was with me during this phone call and would agree to make a statement confirming I indeed did call to be sure our insurance was IN NETWORK. I thank you for your time looking into this matter.Desired Settlement: I would request that the billing be adjusted to IN NETWORK, being I was told my insurance was indeed accepted and was NEVER notified they were OUT OF NETWORK despite the call for confirmation. I have cancelled all future appointments and would like the records transferred to the new dental provider that in fact is actually IN NETWORK. Thank you for your time.

Business

Response:

January 20, 2014Dear [redacted],This is in response to [redacted]'s dispute.[redacted] and her son [redacted] presented initially to bur practice on October 8, 2013. At that visit [redacted] did not have her [redacted] insurance card with her. When I asked her for it, [redacted] stated that she works for [redacted] and verified on her end that her benefits were in effect. I tried to explain to [redacted] that [redacted] offers several different dental plans. [redacted] curtly replied that she works for [redacted] and was aware of her benefits and that it would not be a problem. She stated that her husband also had dental insurance through his employer, but was not aware of his insurance at that point. Ashley's husband came into the office after she and [redacted] were seen. [redacted] and he went outside to discuss his insurance, she came back in the office and stated she would call with hjs information. On October 21, 2013 we received the explanation of benefits from [redacted] stating they were making minimal payments towards [redacted] and [redacted]'s visits. [redacted] called the office on October 24, 2013 and was able to provide her husband's dental insurance information and I subsequently submitted a claim to [redacted] for the services rendered for [redacted] and [redacted] on October 8, 2013.As far as being told that we were IN NETWORK for [redacted] was not informed of this. Our practice only participates with two insurance carriers: [redacted] Dental and [redacted]. Everyone in our practice is aware of this. [redacted] was told that we do not participate with her insurance, but will accept any payments made towards her balance.Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.Sincerely,

Consumer

Response:

Good afternoon **. [redacted]:

Thank you for re-sending the response from the doctors office. I am sorry it took so long to respond, it has been quite busy. I would like to reopen this case as their response is just plain incorrect. I did indeed call to confirm that Dr. McKenna accepted my dental coverage and as stated in my original complaint, my mother in law was with me when I was searching and can confirm. Clearly not all employees at the office were familiar with the insurances they accepted, other[redacted] it would not be confirmed they accepted [redacted] when in fact they do not. Additionally, I was recently married, hence the reason the cards were not available; they had not arrived at that time. Having or not having the card does not change the fact that [redacted] is not a [redacted] provider. When arriving I did indeed state I had called to confirm they had accepted my insurance, this statement was in reference to the call to Dr. Mckenna's office that was placed when the appointment was made (The reason this complaint was made). And lastly, in reference to my husbands insurance, as stated above, we were recently married and open enrollment was during this time, I had called to be sure the new insurance would be available at the time of the next appointment. It would be quite silly to go to an out of network provider when I pay for insurance coverage, so basically this whole situation is ridiculous and insulting. I would appreciate if Dr. McKenna and his staff would make right on their mistake in a timely manner. Hopefully in the future the staff would be appropriately familiarized with accepting insurances as the other offices did when I called in search of a new provider. I thank you for your time and look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

[redacted]