Policies

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Appointment Policy

We value our patients’ time, so we do our best to stay on schedule. In turn, we ask our patients to arrive on time for their appointments. We strive to make appointment times suitable for all of our patients and wait times as short as possible. We do not double-book patient appointments. Your appointment time is scheduled for you and you only and we turn away other patients from your reserved time to hold your appointment for you.

We confirm appointments at least two days prior to each patient appointment by way of telephone, email or text message, in accordance with which option each patient chooses.

If you need to reschedule your appointment, we require a minimum of 2 business days notice. This will allow us to reallocate your time to another patient that requires that time for their treatment. Should a patient not show up to an appointment, or cancel without giving 2 days notice, a missed-appointment fee of $100 per hour, prorated, will apply.

Late Appointment Policy

We understand how busy our patients are and strive to run on time for all appointments. Sometimes however, staying on time is beyond our control as dental emergencies do arise and extenuating circumstances can make us run late. In the event that we do run behind, a team member will make every effort to inform a scheduled patient with as much notice as possible in order to reduce waiting times. A major factor that helps us stay on time is having our patients arrive promptly for their appointments. Arriving late not only negatively impacts our entire day’s schedule, but can also reduce the necessary amount of precious treatment time you may require with our clinicians. While we will always do our best to accommodate late arrivals by performing the most complete treatment possible in the time remaining, sometimes it is not possible to accomplish everything that was scheduled for your appointment. Furthermore, on occasion when a patient is extremely late, it may not be possible to even begin treatment. Unfortunately in these situations, a missed appointment fee of $100 per hour, prorated, will apply.

Financial Policy

It is our pleasure to work with you to in an effort to try overcoming any financial obstacles that stand in the way of getting the dental treatment you deserve. All financial discussions and arrangements are kept strictly confidential.

Payment is required at the time when service is provided. We accept Visa, Mastercard, Debit, American Express, Cash, and Cheques (current and post-dated).

Insurance

Your dental insurance policy is a contract between you, your employer and your insurance company and due to Canadian and Ontario Governments Privacy Acts, it is you, as the policy holder, who is responsible for notifying us of any changes to your coverage, as well as knowing the various procedures covered under your plan in order to avoid disappointment with claim reimbursements. We understand that dental insurance claims can be frustrating and confusing to people outside of the dental field. Our office’s administrators will gladly do their best to assist you with your claims. We will send off predeterminations to your insurance company before treatment and explain their response so that you can be better prepared at the time of your dental treatment. In this way, you can legally maximize your benefits.

If you have dental insurance coverage, once you’ve provided us with your benefit details, we’ll process your claims for you. Your insurance company will reimburse you directly for items for which you have coverage.

Know your dental insurance policy. It is not always possible for us to find all the information concerning your insurance plan since insurance companies are not obligated to disclose any or all information to us under the privacy act. We recommend that patients verify their coverage with their insurance company and bring in their dental coverage booklet to their first appointment.

Insured patients are encouraged to provide us the following information about their insurance policy.  If in doubt, always ask the insurance company. Information required:

• Name of insurance carrier
• Policy number, certificate number (ID) and division number (if any)
• The anniversary date of the policy, for example is it January 1st  calendar year, September 1^st or rolling 12 months.
• The annual maximum benefit per patient per year
• The annual fee guide covered by their insurance policy, example 2012, 2013 or current.
• Percentage of coverage allowed for diagnostic, preventative, restorative, endodontic, periodontal services and all other major treatments, such as crowns, bridges and dentures
• The per person and family annual deductible amount
• Number of scaling/cleaning units covered per year and frequency etc.

Please remember that your dental plan is a contract between yourself and your insurance company. You are responsible for all dental fees, including those that the insurance company does not reimburse you for in full.

Privacy Policy

Privacy of your personal information is an important part of our office providing you with quality dental care. We understand the importance of protecting your personal information. We are committed to collecting, using and disclosing your personal information responsibly. We also try to be as open and transparent as possible about the way we handle your personal information. It is important to us to provide this service to our patients. In this office, Dr. Steven Deskin acts as the Privacy Information Officer. All staff members who come in contact with your personal information are aware of the sensitive nature of the information that you have disclosed to us and have accordingly, signed confidentiality agreements. They are all trained in the appropriate uses and protection of your information. Our office is committed to ensuring that:

• only necessary information is collected about you
• we only share your information with your consent
• storage, retention and destruction of your personal information complies with existing legislation, and privacy protection protocols
• our privacy protocols comply with privacy legislation, standards of our regulatory body, the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario, and the law.

Do not hesitate to discuss our policies with Dr. Deskin or any member of our office staff. Please be assured that every staff person in our office is committed to ensuring that you receive the best quality dental care.

How Our Office Collects, Uses and Discloses Patients ; Personal Information

Our office understands the importance of protecting your personal information. To help you understand how we are doing that, we have outlined here how our office is using and disclosing your information. This office will collect, use and disclose information about you for the following purposes:

• to deliver safe and efficient patient care
• to identify and to ensure continuous high quality service
• to assess your health needs
• to provide health care and to advise you of treatment options
• to enable us to contact you
• to offer and provide treatment, care and services in relationship to the oral and maxillofacial complex and dental care generally
• to communicate with other treating health-care providers, including specialists and general dentists who are the referring dentists and/or peripheral dentists
• to allow us to maintain communication and contact with you to distribute health-care information and to book and confirm appointments
• to allow us to efficiently follow-up for treatment, care and billing
• to complete and submit dental claims for third party adjudication and payment
• to comply with legal and regulatory requirements, including the delivery of patients ; charts and records to the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario in a timely fashion, when required, according to the provisions of the Regulated Health Professions Act
• to comply with agreements/undertakings entered into voluntarily by the member with the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario, including the delivery and/or review of patients ; charts and records to the College in a timely fashion for regulatory and monitoring purposes
• to permit potential purchasers, practice brokers or advisors to evaluate the dental practice
• to allow potential purchasers, practice brokers or advisors to conduct an audit in preparation for a practice sale
• to deliver your charts and records to the dentist ;s insurance carrier to enable the insurance company to assess liability and quantify damages, if any
• to prepare materials for the Health Professions Appeal and Review Board (HPARB)
• to invoice for goods and services
• to process credit card payments
• to collect unpaid accounts
• to assist this office to comply with all regulatory requirements and to comply generally with the law

By signing our consent forms or by becoming a patient of our practice, you have agreed that you have given your informed consent to the collection, use and/or disclosure of your personal information for the purposes that are listed. If a new purpose arises for the use and/or disclosure of your personal information, we will seek your approval in advance.

Your information may be accessed by regulatory authorities under the terms of the Regulated Health Professions Act (RHPA) for the purposes of the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario fulfilling its mandate under the RHPA, and for the defense of a legal issue.

Our office will not under any conditions supply your insurer with your confidential medical history. In the event this kind of a request is made, we will forward the information directly to you for review, and for your specific consent.

When unusual requests are received, we will contact you for permission to release such information. We may also advise you if such a release is inappropriate.

You may withdraw your consent for use or disclosure of your personal information, and we will explain the ramifications of that decision, and the process.

Personal Data Protection

Dental records are collections of sensitive personal patient information compiled to allow dentists and other dental health care providers to provide dental treatment, provide continuity of care and maintain optimal standards of care. Original dental records compiled by a dentist are the legal property of the dentist.

Patients have a legal right to examine and copy their records and to control the use and dissemination of the information contained in their records. Dentists require patients to provide complete, accurate and intimate health details in order to provide safe and effective treatment.

Therefore, ownership of original dental records obligate the security and confidentiality of this information contained therein which may be developed only with the permission of the patient except when otherwise required by law.

Patients have the right to control disclosure of their dental records to others. Release of information must be informed; must be specific and for a one time event; must afford the patient an opportunity to review that information requested and being released prior to the transfer and with an opportunity to withdraw prior consent; must not be used for any purpose other than the primary and specific use requested; and must be with the patient’s permission, preferably in writing.

Patients are entitled to receive dental care in a confidential setting free of third party intrusion. Release of patient information to third parties must adhere to the basic principles of confidentiality and patient rights outlined above with the intention of enabling patients to review any and all third party benefits to which they may be entitled. Patients may be unaware of the information third parties may have access to under broad based consents to release dental records and the scope of this information may exceed the needs of third party to determine benefits. It becomes the responsibility of the dentist and other dental health care providers to protect the confidentiality and privacy of their patients.

Where a third party (e.g. government agency, Canada Revenue Agency, dental association or insurance company) has received patient permission to use information from the patient’s dental records for financial audits, all patient identity and unrelated information (e.g. health history, personal information) shall first be removed from the records. No third party can demand access to patient dental records (including financial records) except with specific patient consent in writing, by legal statute or by court order.