Dental Bill

You are handling it better than I would have! I would've called back and asked for her manager, and explained the situation (how you did here.). Now if you've absolutely fallen in love with then dentist, then nothing more to do, else let the dentist know you're switching because of such and such person not knowing how to handle what she's being paid for! RUDE!...

IMO, I think you probably should have submitted the bill to your medical insurance. You can always submit charges to your insurances, we've just gotten very used to working with providers who do the "automatic claim forwarding" so we don't ever have to worry about it.

The problem with them submitting it to your insurance is medical insurances are super-sensitive to the coding of claims. If they don't code it correctly, then they'll get it back telling them to resubmit.

Insurance really isn't as simple as a lot of us seem to think. My dad was an optometrist (not quite the same, I know). If someone had told me that their insurance would pay for their visit even if my dad wasn't an in-network provider for them, I wouldn't have had any idea of how to start the process to be paid.

For those who say "it's her job" - it's really not. It's a service - a convenience medical/dental/optical offices provide for their clients. It's not a requirement and it's complicated. Yes, we've all come to expect not to have to handle submitting claims to our insurance, but someone still has to. Again, if it was a small office and they only dealt with a select handful of insurers, I'm surprised she didn't simply say they don't do it and she wouldn't.

In a small dental office, they may not deal with a lot of different insurances. And she did say they don't deal with medical insurance. Some do, some will not.

I would probably call your medical insurance and ask them what the best course of action would be.

I do think the receptionist was really rude - she could have given you additional options.

BTW - have you been paying for dental insurance for your little one? If so, I'd request a refund!

I don't think she should have gotten huffy with you, but it's not uncommon for many dental offices not to bill certain insurance carriers. You send the claim form in yourself. Often you are reimbursed the portion that the insurance covers as opposed to it being sent directly to the dental office.
It happens in certain medical offices as well.
I'm not sure how your medical policy is worded, but health insurance usually won't cover dental unless it's "medically necessary", meaning the child had to be sedated or there was an injury to the mouth due to an accident in which a dental professional was consulted. You don't say what the child was seen for so it's hard to guess if it would really be covered by the medical portion of your policy.
It's worth a try.
I would contact the insurance carrier directly and find out what you need to do in order to submit the claim yourself on the chance that the dental office truly doesn't do that.
That would be the best way to make sure your questions are answered and the bill is submitted.
You can also call and ask to speak to the person who does the billing in the office and let them know how you were treated.

Best wishes.

Although her attitude stunk ultimately it is your responsibility.

I love the saying billing is a courtesy for our customers. No one in our billing department disputes we do it because we want to be paid.

Thing is if it is an insurance that a medical/dental office is not set up to bill to it is as difficult for them to submit the claim as it is for you, sometimes contractually impossible.

If the lovely lady comes back to you successful then all is well. If she comes back unsuccessful do yourself a favor and submit the claim yourself. At that point it becomes a telephone game. More efficient for you to directly work with the insurance.

After reading another post I have to say it is not the providers job to submit the claim. Most providers do it because it is the easiest way to get paid. Still when all the dust settles you are responsible for the balance, whatever that may be.

Yes--it's her job to submit it to the proper insurer.
Sheesh.
Sounds like someone had a case of the "Mondays"!

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Yes, that is her job. Even if it wasn't her job (some small offices handle insurance issues differently), she was very rude and unprofessional and could have very politely talked you through the process so you would have known what to do.

She handled it unprofessionally nimber 1.

Secondly, our pediatric dentist did not deal with ANY insurance. You paid for the service, they would provide all necessary paperwork, you did all the filing yourself and the reimbursement check from insurance came straight to you.

I didn't have an issues with it because I knew that was the way things worked in that office from the get go.

Someone should have notified you that the charge would not be covered until your child turns 2. They knew that when they ran your insurance to begin with.

I would not switch Dr.'s over this, however if I were treated in that manner again, I would make sure the Dr. knows how the front staff is handling the patients. It is not worth losing a great Dr..

Interesting. Our dental had no provision for DD to be billed to medical for her care under 2 yrs old. It was all through our dental insurance from 10 months on.

Sometimes they want you to submit yourself, but I would expect most offices to handle the claim (with all the codes and everything) themselves. I haven't submitted my own claim for anything in years, even if I paid upfront and got reimbursed when the payment came in from insurance.

If the office is not a pediatric dental office, you might want to find one. Also, ask the dental insurance why they make medical bill for under 2 if it's a dental office, especially pediatric.

That is so rude of her! Yes, she should deal with it--or at least the billing manager should-every office has one! So, you did the right thing-but I would consider switching providers if you aren't totally in love with the dentist your at....I wouldnt want to deal with her.

GL

M

It is the provider's job to submit the bill for processing. Don't worry too much about her...she was just ticked that she has to resubmit your claim.

Be sure you watch for an explanation of benefits from your insurance company to show that the claim was paid. If you don't get one in a few weeks, call back to the dentist's office to speak to the claims and billing department again.

Good luck!

Depending on how you felt about the rest of the dental visit (for you and the baby), I would consider either a) talk to the dentist/hygenist and report this treatment from the receptionist b) find a new dentist.

I'm so tired of businesses who have forgotten all basic manners and taking care of the customers! We recently took our almost-3-year-old to the dentist where they filed all of the paperwork. I later received a notice ("this is not a bill") that sounded like we were going to be charged for the visit. So, I called my HR lady and found out that my daughter was not added to my dental insurance--I had to do it separately from health insurance. So, I submitted my paperwork to have her added. Between HR, insurance, and dentist they have gotten it all situated!

Well when I get a bill and am unsure why I will call the Dr. Office and the insurance. the insurance company will usually tell you what you need to do, but sometimes you can forward the bill to the insurance. They really should have worked with you more. My dentist is amazing and I always get estiamtes on everything and they let me know upfront what and who is covered. Not every Dr. office is that responsible though. I took in my daughter when they were real little like that with me so they could sit in the chair and have their mouths looked at and the doc never charged! I would try talking to the dentist or find another office if you would feel more comfortable!

I think she was pretty rude actually. icould see her expanation of why she normally would not. Though I think you would end up paying and then getting reimbursed by the medical insurance. I do think you did anything wrong since it doesn't sound like you argued with her or asked for her to do something totally out of the norm. I would be upset also.

1st of all Kudos to you for not calling back and letting her have it for being so rude ;D

2nd - It's their job to submit the claims to the insurance company. If any of our doctors/dentists misfile a claim or enter something in error, they do the required work to correct the problem once I point it out. That is how they get paid. And if by chance their office for some odd reason does not file insurance claims that fact along with any other billing procedures should have been explained to you prior to the 1st visit.

3rd - I'd draft a nice letter addressed to the specific dentist you have been seeing. (If the dental office has a website his/her email should be listed on there if it is not on their business card.) If email is not an option, call the office and ask to leave a voice mail for the dentist. In the voice mail leave your name and contact info obviously, but also alert them that you are mailing a letter to his attention with a complaint about a staff member and you wanted to give him the heads up to ensure he actually receives the letter as the staff will be the one opening the mail and are not very likely to pass on a complaint letter to the dentist. Explain in the letter that although you have been extremely satisfied with the dental services he/she has provided, you will be leaving his practice due to the rude and unprofessional manner in which his office staff handled this matter. You will most likely get a letter of apology from him/her and the staff member. I can assure the dentist has no idea how his staff is interacting with his patients. I learned early on to alert our doctors immediately to any such behavior. The doctors are usually behind closed doors with patients and do not hear what is being said. Someone needs to warn the dentist before they loose all of their patients.

Peace and Blessings
T.

My daughter had her wisdom teeth out and because two were impacted they needed to bill Aetna first, it was considered more of a medical service (surgery). This was a big ticket item though, I'm guessing for your 20 month old...not so much. I deal with insurance companies EVERY.SINGLE.DAY! The majority of my clients (physicians) are happy to bill insurance companies to keep their clients happy and GET PAID but it is not required. I see so many signs (like Jo W. said) that they will bill as a courtesy. Rude on her part I agree.

I would tell the dentist next time you see him that a staff did that, he may be a wonderful dentist but have crappy staff. If he is really good it's worth the effort to put up with the staff.

you should let your dentist know what she did and how you feel about it. also if she was not the person that was suppose to deal with medical insurance she should have been able to tell you who did. her fail!

It's your responsibility to know what's covered and what's not so you should have known way before your toddlers appointment. So technically you were both wrong. You were in the wrong for not knowing before hand and she was in the wrong for being rude.

You handled that better than I would have. I would have called her back telling her to get her boss on the phone. Maybe their office needs to find someone thats more politie and not so lazy. I dont think you should have mailed it in yourself, you said the gal said ok that she would do it. I would definelty call back tomorrow and make sure she sent it through the insurance company and talk to the office manager.

I also think it's her responsibility (or at least completely reasonable to ask her to do it). I'm very surprised she said, "We don't deal with medical insurance here." Many dental procedures can be covered by medical insurance. It depends on the coverage people have. My dental insurance rejected a claim once (yes I should have inquired before hand), so it was submitted to my medical insurance. This really is common, so she's going to have to deal!!!

Don't feel bad (at all), and definitely follow up! I wouldn't say anything to the dentist right now. Chalk it up to a bad day, but make sure she really does file. I'd also follow up with your medical insurance and see if a claim was filed. Always good to follow up!

I would think that a dental office would have been happy to submit the claim to your insurance for you. Surprised that they're not helpful that way, and she shouldn't have been rude to you. Your request was perfectly reasonable. I recently visited a chiropractor, and they told me it was my responsibility to submit the claims. I did and it ended up being very simple.

She's correct in saying that it's really not up to her to submit billing to your medical plan. They are use to dealing with dental insurance not medical. Personally I'd get an itemized bill from the dentist, make a copy for my records, and submit it myself.