Policies

financial policies and insurance

Dr. Rich is a fee-for-service dentist who believes that the choices you make about your health should not be restricted by the often arbitrary reimbursement schedules set by insurance companies. Her goal is to offer you the finest and most appropriate clinical care available without the influence of insurance contracts that can require dentists to provide a lesser service in order to receive payment. While Dr. Rich does not contract directly with any insurance company, as a practice we do want to help you take advantage of the insurance coverage that you may already have when you visit our office.

Many insurance policies provide some benefit for services performed by a non-contracted dentist, and we are happy to help you gain whatever reimbursements that you can. You can easily find out if your policy has any contract restrictions with a quick phone call to your insurance company.

At the end of each appointment, you will be given an insurance form and a postage-paid submission envelope. The dental or medical portion of this form will be completed by our staff, and you will only need to fill in a few key pieces of basic information before addressing the envelope to your insurance company’s claim submission center. The claim form will clearly state that you have paid for services in full, and will request that reimbursements are sent directly to you from your insurance company.

Payment to the office of Dr. Martha Rich is due at each appointment for all services rendered during that visit. Monthly financing options are available through CareCredit (upon credit approval from CareCredit), and we are happy to work together with you to stage your dental treatment in a way that makes sense for both your physical and financial health.

medicare

Please note that we are not a Medicare provider, and as such no Medicare benefits can be utilized for services obtained at our office. However, many supplemental plans do provide benefits for non-Medicare providers. If you have supplemental insurance, a quick phone call to your insurance company can help you determine if benefits are available to you for services obtained through a non-Medicare provider.

late arrivals

We truly respect the value of our clients’ time. To the best of our ability, and with very rare exceptions, your appointment will begin at the time it is scheduled. If we anticipate any significant delay in honoring that time, we will make every effort to contact you before your arrival to make the proper adjustments in your schedule and ours.

Because of our dedication to honoring the start time for each appointment, it can be very difficult to accommodate late arrivals. Sometimes being late for an appointment is not within your control, and we certainly understand that accidents and emergencies happen. If you are late, and it is still feasible for us to see you without compromising the quality of your treatment, we will certainly try to complete the treatment scheduled for that appointment in the time that we have remaining. However, depending on how late you are, we may need to reschedule some or all of your treatment in order to provide you with the best possible care.

Our downtown location also presents additional considerations to take into account in planning an on-time arrival for your appointment. Commuter traffic, bridge lifts, busy or full parking structures (especially during the holidays), and occasional road closures due to construction can all present unexpected delays in your arrival. We encourage our patients to plan to arrive 10 to 15 minutes early for each appointment in order to allow extra time for these variables. You are always welcome to arrive early for your appointment and relax comfortably in our office.

If you are aware that you are going to be late and are able to contact us, please call us at 503-228-6870 so that we can adjust or reschedule your appointment if needed.

missed appointments and short-notice cancellations

We all have unexpected urgencies that occasionally arise, and it is never our intention to penalize anyone who misses or cancels an appointment due to an unforeseen emergency. Our schedule is very busy, however, and we often have requests to move an appointment to a sooner time if it becomes available. We ask that you call us with at least 48 business hours to change an appointment. Appointments that are broken with less than 48 hours’ notice do not allow us adequate time to fill the appointment, and often that time is simply lost. If breaking or missing appointments without sufficient notice becomes a habit, we may need to discuss whether or not your schedule and ours are a good match.

snow and ice

In the event of snow or ice, we may close the office if Dr. Rich determines that it is not safe for patients or employees to attempt to reach the office. If you have an appointment on a day of inclement weather, please call the office at 503-228-6870. If we are closing the office, or opening later than our regularly scheduled hours, our voicemail will have the most current information on our status.