Steven R. Johnson DDS

September 2, 2014To Whom It May Concern:We are responding to your letter concerning a complaint by *** *** ***, ID # ***As he stated in his letter, we had trouble verifying his insurance but once it was verified a claim was sent for him to be reimbursedHowever the
insurance sent payment to usUsually when an overpayment occurs the bookkeeper puts a note on the practice administrator’s desk for a refund to be issuedIn *** ***’s case it does not appear this happenedWhile it is NOT our practice to hold patient’s money we do have a policy no refunds will be issued until all insurance claims are cleared*** *** did not inquire about his credit until after his cleaning was completed and a new claim was generatedA flag was put on the account to send a refund to the patient as soon as the insurance paidWe received payment from insurance on 08/26/and a refund check was issued 09/02/14, a short delay because the practice administrator was out of town.*** ***'s letter states he was told we do not reimburse patients unless they request a refundThis is absurd as we issue refunds weekly.Please call me directly if you have any questions or require additional information.Sincerely,
Robin R

Review: In the fall of 2013, I received a standard dental cleaning from Annandale Smiles. The office was unable to immediately process my insurance for the fee, so I paid the $83.00 myself and submitted a claim to my insurance. My insurance processed the claim and provided payment to Annandale Smiles. Annandale Smiles proceeded to retain both my payment and my insurance company's payment. Although Annandale Smiles notified me in February 2014 that they had received payment from my insurance company, they never reimbursed me for my payment.

I returned in June 2014 for another cleaning. At this time, Annandale Smiles once again pointed out that they had not reimbursed me the original $83.00. Upon requesting my reimbursement, Annandale Smiles informed me they could not return my payment until my insurance reimbursed them for the current cleaning. I pointed out that this reimbursement had now been pending for nearly 4 months. I was told they had to check with their office manager, but that I would be contacted within one week to resolve this situation. Six weeks then passed when I received no contact from Annandale Smiles. I eventually had to follow up with a call myself in early August. Once again, I was told that office policies prevented them from providing my reimbursement, and that the office manager would be reviewing my situation "today" (apparently she hadn't seen it in the previous 5 months since my insurance had reimbursed them). I reminded them that the $83.00 was not my payment pending insurance for a negative balance, but was actually money that had already been covered by insurance. I also inquired why I had not been provided this reimbursement during the period of 4 months between the date my insurance provided payment and my next visit. Annandale Smiles informed me that it was office policy to keep customer reimbursements unless the customer specifically requested these funds back. I further inquired where on my statement (the one sent in February 2014, referenced above) this situation was notified to customers. Annandale Smiles replied that this information is not included on any billing statement, and that there was no way I would've been able to know this of this situation. Since this time, Annandale Smiles has contacted me, only reiterating their "office policies" and refusing to provide me a refund for the overpayment they collected.

Therefore, at this time, Annandale Smiles has double-charged me for services, failed to inform me of relevant "office policy" regarding obtaining monies owed to me, and refuses to provide monies they admit belongs to me. Between their obfuscation of relevant policies, leaving it on the customer to have to actual request money owed to them, the clear choice of their staff to take no action on returning funds to customers, and a labyrinth of "office policies" which result in the inability of a customer to obtain money owed to them, it is clear Annandale Smiles is making every effort to retain the double-payment for these services.Desired Settlement: I would like the $83.00 I paid for services (which was also paid by my insurance) to be reimbursed to me via check.

Business

Response:

September 2, 2014To Whom It May Concern:We are responding to your letter concerning a complaint by [redacted], ID # [redacted]. As he stated in his letter, we had trouble verifying his insurance but once it was verified a claim was sent for him to be reimbursed. However the insurance sent payment to us. Usually when an overpayment occurs the bookkeeper puts a note on the practice administrator’s desk for a refund to be issued. In [redacted]’s case it does not appear this happened. While it is NOT our practice to hold patient’s money we do have a policy no refunds will be issued until all insurance claims are cleared. [redacted] did not inquire about his credit until after his cleaning was completed and a new claim was generated. A flag was put on the account to send a refund to the patient as soon as the insurance paid. We received payment from insurance on 08/26/14 and a refund check was issued 09/02/14, a short delay because the practice administrator was out of town.[redacted]'s letter states he was told we do not reimburse patients unless they request a refund. This is absurd as we issue refunds weekly.Please call me directly if you have any questions or require additional information.Sincerely,Robin R