HCD Headlines 4-20-21

Rachael
Apr 20, 2021
3 min read

Hello, Friends! It's been awhile since we spoke last. I learned a lot while I was out with COVID quarantine. I learned a great lesson about acknowledging your weaknesses and allowing people into your comfort zone. I greatly appreciate those that helped my family with food, toys and prayers. Your generosity was a surprise and a blessing to my family. Thank you all for your dedication to HCD through your work ethic and your compassion for your team members. I'm humbled by your kindness and support. Much love to you all!

Now for the good stuff...

April Schedule

We only have 2 weeks left of the month and here's what we have for schedule-wise. Thank you for your patience with me getting this out to everyone.

Dental Health Insurance

Per our discussion at the team meeting, here is the updated fees for our team members that have reached the 5+ year mark. These are the lab fees for CEREC crowns. If your crown or other appliance is fabricated out of office, the cost will be the invoice received from the lab.

Implant crowns: $610-640
E-max crowns: $200
Zirconia crowns: $250

Premera Health Benefits

As you know, April is our month for enrolling in health care. If you'd like to participate or if you already do, the information for premium cost is listed below. Please let me know if you have any questions regarding participation in our medical insurance plan.

National Oral Cancer Awareness Month

April is one of the most important months for the dental industry as we recognize oral cancer as a nation. We have our own stories of HCD patients that have been saved by our oral cancer screenings and getting them to the right person in time. We also have a few patients now that are going through treatment for oral cancer. As a way to give back, we are going to give a few comfort items to local cancer centers. We'd also like to give some cancer baskets to our patients dealing with this horrible disease. Please let me know by way of face-to-face or sticky note if you have a patient currently undergoing treatment for cancer.

Items we are looking for include:

Soft blankets
Soft socks
Hand cream
Chapstick
Teas
Coloring books

We already have toothbrushes and toothpaste to provide them. We are working on dry mouth rinses as well. We will also invite our patients to participate in donating to this cause. Please have your items to me by the end of next week.

Scheduling Back Patients

With the change in schedules, we have had providers seeing other providers' patients to ensure their dental needs are met. I wanted to relay what we do as an office when we see other providers' patients to ensure continuity in care and providers.

When scheduling, the schedule of the provider assigned to the patient is always checked first. If the patient cannot fit into that time frame, we offer other times with other providers.
After their appointment is complete, we always ask for the patient to be rescheduled with their assigned provider. If once again the time frame does not work for their schedule, the patient can request to be in another's schedule. Notes are made in the appointment as to why patients were scheduled with a different provider.
There are times when the patient outright asks to be seen by another provider. Notes are made in the Family File or Office Journal to ensure the current provider is aware of the change.

We know the best care is to have the patient see their provider of choice. During those times when this is unavailable, please know that our team's intent is to always care for the patient and get them back to their original provider. If you have any questions regarding this protocol, I am available to talk with you.