Updates and News
Monday, May 15, 2023
Dear Patient,
We want to inform you that as of December 31, 2023, we will be withdrawing from participation in our contract with Delta Dental. We recognize that this change will affect many of our patients. Regrettably, it is not financially feasible for us to continue to accept their limited reimbursement and be able to provide our patients with the level of service to which our office is committed.
The first and most important thing to realize is that you do not have to leave our practice. Discontinuing our contract with Delta Dental does not prevent you from being a patient here. I want to explain why we are making this decision and, what impact it will have on you.
Why end our contact with Delta Dental? Before purchasing the practice, the Delta Dental contract available to Dr. Schneider was a Premier Plan which operated with a significantly higher paying reimbursement rate for services. Dr. Schneider structured the office and assembled the amazing team you have all gotten to know based on the benefit of the Premier Plan. When ownership changed in January 2021, I was not able to obtain the same contract as it is no longer offered. Because I knew that withdrawing as an in-network provider for Delta would affect a large portion of our patients, I accepted the lower paying PPO plan and have been operating under that agreement for the past two years.
As you are aware, 2022 was economically challenging. Prices of goods and other expenses related to running a business have increased. Delta Dental sets their own reimbursement rates at the beginning of every year. During this time of inflation, we anticipated a reasonable increase to be coming to Delta's plan for 2023. This was not the case, and their fee schedule largely stayed the same. We have done everything in our power to maintain a high standard of care, but under these circumstances, it has become much more difficult.
Although our charges must go up, we will not be making drastic increases. We realize the impact to families, and for this reason we want to be as conservative as possible when making changes. We hope you can understand that we cannot continue to provide the services you have come to expect under Delta's current fee schedule.
We also need to discuss the way in which this affects Delta Dental insurance billing. Delta has a policy called "assignment of benefits." Typically, when a procedure is done, the patient pays their portion and Delta Dental sends the insurance portion to us. When we terminate the contract, they will no longer send us any payment. They will only send disbursements to you. We can file the insurance claim for you, but we cannot collect benefits from them directly.
This leaves us with a choice. Do we ask patients to pay the entire amount for services up front? Or do we ask you to pay your estimated portion and then request the remainder after you have received compensation from Delta Dental? We have established relationships with patients, and we want to trust that we will receive the balance from you as agreed once Delta has processed the claim and sent you the benefit payment.
We know this adjustment will be somewhat difficult. There is no denying that you may be able to save money by seeing a dentist within your insurance network. If you need to make the decision to seek care from another provider, we completely understand and will assist in making the necessary transfer as easy as possible. However, we are hoping you can continue to allow us to serve your dental care needs. We do not take this important business decision lightly. The success of this practice was built over many years and is founded on providing quality care to our patients. That is something we will never compromise.
If you have any questions or concerns, we would like to discuss them with you. Thank you for allowing us to care for you and your family. We hope we can continue to do so for many years to come.
Sincerely,
Nathan Loeffler, DDS