Here is the scenario:
Sometime in January/February 2016, I don’t remember the exact date, I was told that I have a cavity on my wisdom teeth (#17 (LL)). In august, 2016 I was out of the country so I couldn’t make my 6-month appointment. On Friday, January 13, 2017 I called the dental office and told the receptionist that I want to make an appointment to take care of my wisdom teeth and she suggested that since I haven’t been in for the regular 6 month cleaning, I should schedule for that first and they will schedule the extraction then. So I got an appointment on the 19th of January.
Jan. 19th, I went in for my appointment. The manager said that since it’s more than 6 months, I needed to have a full exam. So, they proceeded to take an x-ray, the dentist came and I told him my concerns, specifically about the wisdom tooth extraction and that I want all 4 taken out. And he said “are you sure you want all your wisdom tooth removed, one of them is not even fully out yet?” and I said, “yes, that’s what I want”. And he indicated that he will write a note in my file. When I finished my cleaning, I talked with the receptionist to make “wisdom tooth extraction” appointment. I was informed by the receptionist that they only perform extractions only on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. There was an opening on Feb. 10, 2017, @2:30 pm, so I took that slot.
January 30th, my job was acquiring new benefits, and I wanted to know the price range of the extraction, and I called the dental office. But since I didn’t have all the information I told them I will call back and will discuss further.
February 8, afternoon I called because I wanted a price comparison of with or without insurance. And I was told by the receptionist that I was scheduled for a “filling”. So, I corrected the receptionist that “filling” is not what I scheduled for but “wisdom tooth extraction” she put me on hold while she spoke with her manager. After a few more holds, she confirmed on the phone that without insurance its $500.00 per tooth but since she doesn’t have the full information and she doesn’t work in billing, she’ll consult with her manager and call me back. I never received a call that afternoon, even though their office is open till 7:00 pm on Wednesday’s (according to their website).
February 9, at 10 in the morning I called to make sure they have my appointment. The receptionist informed me that I was scheduled for a “filling”, AGAIN; I corrected her and told her that that’s not the appointment I made. She suggested that I come in for a consult, I told her that I HAD a consult a month ago, and I have already taken 3 days off work anticipating the oral surgery and I can’t afford to lose that. The receptionist came back after she put me on hold and said that “are you going to pay $600.00/tooth (mind $100.00 difference). I told her that I have insurance. And she said “it’ll be $80.00/tooth” and my appointment is scheduled for 2:30 pm on Friday, Feb. 10th, but the doctor attending is not in-network with my insurance and I might need to pay out of pocket and submit a claim to my insurance for reimbursement. And I asked why I wasn’t told this detail when I made the appointment so that I can make an informed decision or change the date to when a doctor that’s within the network will be available. She put me on hold, talked to her manager and said that everything is sorted out. I specifically asked “is the doctor in network” and she said “yes”. There was no instructions on what to do before surgery, the precautions to take, and the designated person I needed to bring…none of that.
February 10th @2:30, I show up for my appointment. The receptionist said “what are you here for” as if I hadn’t been there previously and I was a walk-in. I told her that I have an appointment at 2:30 for wisdom tooth extraction. She looked at her screen and said that I was moved, she seemed to remember me, and I had actually made the appointment with her originally. I was told to take a seat. A half hour later, the manager came and I was asked again why I was there. By this time I was getting frustrated. And I tried, as calmly as I can, to explain that I had an appointment, which was scheduled a month ago. She looked at her screen and told me that extraction wasn’t in my “treatment plan”. I was under the impression that a “treatment plan” will be discussed with the patient and a patient’s needs are under consideration. She took my insurance card, filled out some paper and told me that I need to get another x-ray done because last time they didn’t “capture” what they needed for wisdom tooth extraction. I was flabbergasted because my teeth wouldn’t change in less than a month and stated the fact. I suggested to her, maybe she should check the last x-ray but she wasn’t willing, so I said fine let’s do an x-ray as long as we proceed with the extraction same day. She took me to the back, sat me in and exam room and disappeared for 20 min. The doctor came and asked what the problem was. He was a different dentist, I explained what has happened in the past month, and what I wanted to be done and that my teeth are chipping…and so forth. He looked in my mouth and said he’ll talk to the manager and left. A few moment later, the manager came in and showed me a piece of paper and said “this is what I was missing; now we can continue…”, and she proceeded to say that “ok we can do you extraction but the doctor available today is not able to do it because the wisdom tooth extraction is a “complicated” procedure. The only doctor who can do it is the oral surgeon. He will be here tomorrow, Saturday. He doesn’t accept insurance so you have to pay $500.00/tooth out of pocket and submit the claim to your insurance company for reimbursement.”…
So, I hope you can understand my frustration. I work 2 jobs, 7 days a week. I took 3 days off of work, I have been calling to make sure my procedure will go as smoothly as possible. And the manager is speaking to me as if I’m asking for a free service and she showed no remorse that I will be losing wages, and that they just wasted half of my Friday. They keep saying I need this, and that, so that they can submit the claim and get paid for something I had already paid for a month ago. Anyway, I tried to explain my confusion and that I do not appreciate the fact that they haven’t made this clear to me when I called 3 times, or when I made the appointment. She had no reply to that, so I walked to the receptionist, the manager was there as well, and requested a copy of my dental record. The manager said I need to sign a release form and that they will mail it to me, while I was there, in person, to take it myself. I refused that and requested that I get the copy right away. After a few grumble in Spanish, she agreed. I was able to schedule an appointment with another dentist in another dental office which agreed to squeeze me in on Monday, 2/13/2017.
I was also fortunate enough to work with wonderful co-workers who agreed to shift my days off for next week. But the fact remains, there will always be individuals that are not as fortunate as I and will probably lose their wage because of a disastrous miscommunication and mishandling of patient’s needs. There will always be others who will get billed for procedures they do not need because they do not ask questions. I’m glad they were upfront that the doctor can’t do the procedure, but the timing is what’s frustrating to me. I don’t need reimbursement or anything. And I hope they haven’t submitted a claim to my insurance for the Friday visit. Because they haven’t performed anything besides run me around as if I’m asking for the impossible. I wanted to take this time and voice my concerns; because something does not seem right. Why do they keep telling me I need unnecessary XYZ done? So that they can submit a claim? Why did she refuse to give me my records? Why would I schedule any other kind of extraction if my wisdom teeth were the one that was affected? Shouldn’t they have discussed my “treatment plan” with me, the patient? Why did they told me that they only perform extraction on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, but now I was given a choice of making an appointment on a Saturday? It’s not like I made the appointment and showed up 3 weeks later, I made constant contacts through phone calls.
by m
xxx.xxx.202.5
February 13, 2017
