Office Schedule   |   Appointment Policy   |   General Policy Issues   |   Payment Policy 

Financial Policy   |   Medicaid   |   Parents - Legal Guardians, Foster Parents, Wards of the Court

Our Office and Equipment

Office Schedule

DAILY SCHEDULE
8:00 AM - 5:00 PM ~ Monday through Thursday

We observe 6 federal holidays each year.  We normally close the office for three breaks during the year (usually a week to ten days long)...

• CHRISTMAS – NEW YEARS

• MAY – JUNE

• AUGUST – SEPTEMBER
   

Appointment Policy:

Patients who fail to come to the first appointment are not reappointed

We see patients by appointment only. If you see you cannot come to the appointment or be here on time, please let us know beforehand.

At least twenty four hours notification is needed for appointment rescheduling or cancellation, otherwise the missed appointment will be counted as a broken appointment.

We may not be able to see a patient who arrives late and should the child not be treated on the date of their appointment due to late arrival, it will be counted as a missed appointment.

Three broken appointments within a 12 month period will preclude further scheduling at our office. Dr. Whigham does not treat families whose children fail multiple appointments.

As a general rule children from the same family are not appointed together. Sometimes appointments may be approved between 9 and 11 AM and between 2 and 3 PM only. Appointments together for family members will not be granted for those families who have had broken appointments.

There are only a limited number of after school appointments. We have many school age patients in our practice and we ask your cooperation for those times when such appointments are not available.
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General Policy Issues:

In order to treat your child you will be required to sign a written informed consent which authorizes me to do the treatment that I will list and brief you on once my examination is complete. Should you disagree with my diagnosis and planned treatment I encourage you to get a second opinion. My treatment planning will be based on what I consider best for the patient and professionally correct. I am also acutely aware of the associated cost and I make every effort to get you the best solution for your money.

Many of my patients are very young. It is sometimes hard to reason with and control children under 3 years of age. As a general rule children 3 years and older can be controlled with voice and reason. Unless there is a compelling reason such as a handicap, recent injury or mental retardation I do not allow parents to accompany children 3 and older to the treatment area. I do make exceptions for some of the younger children.

For children who require behavior management measures for safe treatment, there is a charge associated. I am trained and I am licensed to do such treatment. My staff is trained to assist with the treatment. The alternative for the behavior management work we do is having the work done under general anesthesia in the hospital operating room. A very expensive proposition.

Because of the limited waiting room space we ask parents not to bring other family members or friends with them to appointments. At a maximum please limit those accompanying the patient to one adult and one other child.

Please control the conduct of your children in the waiting room as well as on the outside premises of this office. We also ask that you supervise their use of the rest room facilities. Destructive activity and annoyance of other patients will not be permitted

The employees of our office are carrying out the direction and policies of Dr. Whigham. Should you find problems with these policies or the attitude or conduct of our employees please report this to the business manager or Dr. Whigham. On the other hand, parents or guardians who use abusive language, argue and otherwise fail to cooperate with our staff will not be permitted to have their children treated in this clinic.
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Payment Policy:*

Payment is expected at time of treatment.

All new patients on the first visit are expected to pay in full at the time of service. There are exceptions when a patient helps us qualify insurance coverage before the appointment and for pre qualified Medicaid and PeachCare patients.

All emergency treatment patients are expected to pay in full at the time of service.

Payment is expected at the time of treatment. As a courtesy to our patients with dental insurance we will prepare and file their claims. For those whose insurance allows assignment of benefits we will await payment on that part of the charges until the insurance pays. That part of the payment due from the Patient (the “co-payment”) is required at the time of service. Some insurance companies only pay benefits directly to the patient/sponsor. Patients with these companies are also required to pay in full at the time of service. In all cases the patients/sponsor is ultimately responsible for all charges and should the Insurance Company not pay us within 60 days full payment is required.

We accept Visa, Discover, MasterCard and American Express. We do not offer nor do we accept any type of extended payment plans.
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Financial Policy:*

There is a $25 service charge on each returned check. We will notify you by phone and/or letter on the day it is returned. Should the check not be redeemed within 10 days, we will begin the legal process to collect the check through the county court system.

A special effort is made to inform all patrons of our payment policies but unfortunately, there are a few who, after accepting our services, advise us that they will not or cannot pay. These cases are immediately entered into the county court system for collection.

Some accounts may develop a balance due to us because the insurance company fails to pay us as estimated and at other times the claim payment may be sent directly to the insured/sponsor. We send statements to all accounts with a due now balance and we ask that the balance be paid upon receipt. Accounts not paid within 90 days are turned over to our collection agency.

No patients of a sponsor whose financial account is delinquent will be treated until the account is settled. All patients of a sponsor whose financial account is turned over to collections will be dismissed from the practice.

*All reference to "patient" responsibility is intended to directly refer to the adult legally responsible for the child being treated by this office.
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Medicaid

There are a large number of children in the Medicaid program needing dental treatment. We have established certain policies to help us treat as many of those children with immediate needs as possible.

We only accept new Medicaid patients under the age of 9 years. This allows us to see the very young children whom general dentists do not normally treat.

You must bring the child's current MEDICAID CARD to each visit.
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Parents – Legal Guardians – Foster Parents – Wards of the Court

Either one of the Parents, a Legal Guardian, a Foster Parent or a Court Custodian must accompany a child to their appointments. All such parties other than a parent must present legal proof of their capacity at the first such visit. This person must remain at our office through out the appointment. This applies to all minors under age 18

There are two exceptions to the above rule:

1. The legally responsible person appoints in writing a competent adult to come with the patient to their appointment. We will provide an authorization example/form that you may complete, sign and have witnessed.
2. With Dr. Whigham’s concurrence the legally responsible person may authorize by letter the unaccompanied treatment of a teenager patient older that 14 year, who has been a patient of record in this practice for at least one year without deportment problems.
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Our Office and Equipment…

We have a large office which we built for the practice. Our office is a high quality facility with modern equipment. Our clinic is located across the street from a modern, well-equipped and fully staffed regional hospital with a same day surgery facility.

We use the Schick Technology (CDR) computed digital x-ray system which is networked. The vast majority of our x-rays are taken with this system. The digital system reduces radiation exposure by 90%.

We also have a complete film-chemical capability for special situations and backup.

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