HCD Headlines 1-25-22

Rachael
Jan 25, 2022
3 min read

Someone Say Pizza?

You know what to do... And if you don't, ask a friend that attended the Team Meeting. 3 successful days down. 11 to go...

Cancer Baskets

We still have care baskets available for patients that have been recently diagnosed with cancer. We are now tracking those baskets through the ledger to ensure patients receive their cancer care baskets. Please add the procedure code "CanBasket" located under the Products Category to the patient's ledger when their basket has been delivered. This will help us track whether or not patients have received their basket. A HUGE thank you to those who have helped with delivery to our patients' homes! This special touch goes a long way!

Frequency Limitations vs. Necessity

As you know, insurance companies are quite the tyrants when it comes to frequency limitations on exams, prophy (prophies or prophys?), and x-rays. As dental experts, we need to make sure we watch the frequency limitations for each insurance plan. This means reviewing the Insurance Plan Notes in the Family File prior to your patient coming in. Look for plans that state things like "six months to-the-day" or "two per calendar year." Staying alert to these limitations will prevent hardship in either collecting unexpected expenses or writing off multiple x-rays.

There are times when we need an x-ray before the frequency limitations set by the insurance company. We can take these x-rays regardless of limitations IF we follow the following:

Notate in your clinical notes the reason for the x-ray. "Periodic monitoring" will not be covered but "cancer screening purposes" or "evaluation of 3rds" could be.
Have the patient sign a treatment plan reflecting the cost of the x-ray being out of pocket. We will send the x-ray to insurance with your awesome clinical note and collect the cost of the x-ray at time of check-out. If the insurance pays (partly because of your awesome clinical note notating the special circumstance), we will gladly send the patient a refund.

Insurance Verification

Along the lines of insurance... Since we're missing our wonderful Kolina at the front, there is more of a delay when it comes to verifying insurance prior to the patients' arrival. Please do not bring the patient back to the operatory until insurance has been verified. This will help prevent taking x-rays or completing treatment that may or may not be approved by insurance and lead to unexpected charges. If you MUST bring your patient back before verification is done, just know the charges not covered by insurance will be deducted from your paycheck. JK... But seriously... only bring them back with the OK from the front desk. Thank you!

CDC COVID Guidelines

What a crazy past few weeks we've had thanks to the COVID surge throughout town! We received this information recently from the ADA regarding COVID guidelines from the CDC. We continue to strive to follow CDC guidelines regarding our responsibilities as providers and a business. Please let us know if you have further questions. You can read the full story by following the links.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its COVID-19 guidance for health care workers to factor in such considerations as symptom severity, immune status and test results, according to ADA News. Interim Guidance for Managing Healthcare Personnel with SARS-CoV-2 Infection or Exposure to SARS-CoV-2, released on Dec. 23, states that health care workers with COVID-19 who are asymptomatic and not immunocompromised can return to work after seven days with a negative test in the past 48 hours or 10 days with either no test results or a positive test result at day five to seven. Health care workers who have received all recommended COVID-19 vaccine doses, including a booster, can continue working after high-risk exposure though testing 24 hours and again five to seven days after exposure is recommended.

Baby Shower

And the best part of the headlines this week... Edmel and Patricia's Baby Shower is coming up on Friday, February 11 at 4PM. We will have cake, food, and more food to help celebrate Baby Girl Young. Their registry is HERE. Thanks to Jillian and the Social Committee for helping organize this!