Emergencies
Emergency dental care is sometimes needed but always unexpected! If a dental emergency arises, contact our office. If your child's emergency is not during regular office hours, you will be instructed on how to contact Dr. Baloul. Patients seen after our regular business hours will be subject to an additional fee. After-hours emergency call Dr. Baloul at 617-848-8828.
Financial Info
Payment for professional services is due at the time dental treatment is provided. Every effort will be made to provide a treatment plan which fits your timetable and budget, and gives your child the best possible care. We accept cash, personal checks, debit cards, VISA, MasterCard, and Discover.
Finance Charges
A finance charge of $5.00 will be added to your account for any balance that remains unpaid after 30 days from the date of service. This charge will be assessed monthly, until the remaining balance is paid in full.
Monthly Statement
All outstanding balances are the responsibility of the parent/guardian authorizing treatment. In the case of a divorce or separation, the parent/guardian accompanying the child to the office is financially responsible. If the divorce decree states other payment arrangements, it is the accompanying parent/guardian's responsibility to collect from that parent/guardian.
Past Due Accounts
If your account is past due, we will take all necessary steps to collect this debt and you will be responsible for any collection costs which are incurred.
How Does Our Office Handle Your Dental Insurance?
As a courtesy to our patients, we are providers for Altus, Ameritus, BCBS of Massachusetts, Cigna, Delta Dental Premier, Health Plan Service Corp, Mass Health, MetLife, Principal Financial, Reliance and Standard.
If we have received all of your insurance information on the day of the appointment, we will be happy to file your claim for you. You must be familiar with your insurance benefits, as we will collect from you the estimated amount insurance is not expected to pay.
PLEASE UNDERSTAND that we file dental insurance as a courtesy to our patients. We do not have a contract with your insurance company, only you do. We are not responsible for how your insurance company handles its claims or for what benefits they pay on a claim. We can only assist you in estimating your portion of the cost of treatment. We at no time guarantee how your insurance company will process a claim. We also cannot be responsible for any errors in filing your insurance claim especially when the information you have provided us with is incorrect. Once again, we file claims as a courtesy to you.
Fact 1 - NO INSURANCE PAYS 100% OF ALL PROCEDURES
Dental insurance is meant to be an aid in receiving dental care. Many patients think that their insurance pays 90%-100% of all dental fees. This is not true! Most plans only pay between 50%-80% of the average total fee. Some pay more, some pay less. The percentage paid is usually determined by how much you or your employer has paid for coverage, or the type of contract your employer has set up with the insurance company.
Fact 2 - BENEFITS ARE NOT DETERMINED BY OUR OFFICE
You may have noticed that sometimes your dental insurer reimburses you or the dentist at a lower rate than the dentist's actual fee. Frequently, insurance companies state that the reimbursement was reduced because your dentist's fee has exceeded the usual, customary, or reasonable fee ("UCR") used by the company.
A statement such as this gives the impression that any fee greater than the amount paid by the insurance company is unreasonable, or well above what most dentists in the area charge for a certain service. This can be very misleading and simply is not accurate.
Insurance companies set their own schedules, and each company uses a different set of fees they consider allowable. These allowable fees may vary widely, because each company collects fee information from claims it processes. The insurance company then takes this data and arbitrarily chooses a level they call the "allowable" UCR Fee. Frequently, this data can be three to five years old and these "allowable" fees are set by the insurance company so they can make a net 20%-30% profit.
Unfortunately, insurance companies imply that your dentist is "overcharging", rather than say that they are "underpaying", or that their benefits are low. In general, the less expensive insurance policy will use a lower usual, customary, or reasonable (UCR) figure.
Keep Notice of privacy practices (read only) and Acknowledgement of Privacy practices.