Ruoxi Dai

I was very much looking forward to coming to this practice and my appointment with Dr. Dai, but sadly had an extremely disappointing experience. I was referred to the practice by my prior dental office. I spoke to the office staff and explained that I was having quite an urgent issue - a piece of a large filling had come out and left a big gap in my tooth. It was difficult to eat or maintain hygiene. The staff were able to schedule an appointment a few days away and stated I would need to have a consultation for the doctor determine the best course of action. I was happy to hear the word "consultation". I proceeded to explain that because I saw a dental assistant at my prior dental office when this first happened, I had exhausted my "limited exam" coverage for this year. My insurance advised that I have unlimited "consultations" and for the provider to bill the consult as such. The rep even gave the correct billing code. The staff advised that they would be happy to bill as such but… that their policy is to charge all new patients $199 out of pocket and reimburse once the insurance claim is processed and paid. I was ok with that, even though that's a bit odd since the office should only collect the estimated patient responsibility if they are in network with insurance. I confirmed several times everything would be fine and the staff even sent me a notification they submitted a prior authorization to bill the consultation to my insurance. I was looking forward to seeing Dr. Dai as the problem was getting more noticeable. About 45 minutes before my appointment, I got a call from the office staff stating that they will not be able to bill the visit as a consultation and it is their policy to bill as a limited or comprehensive exam (they would not have time for a comprehensive exam today or for about a month). I asked why and tried to explain that I cleared it with them when scheduling and happy to pay out of pocket during the visit, so if my insurance denies the claim (I knew it would not as I had a written email from them confirming) the office loses nothing. They did not want to hear it. The doctor told me to "clam down" and hung up the phone. At not point was I rude or disrespectful in my communication to warrant such behavior. So 30 minutes before my appointment I was wondering what to do... I texted and offered to have my insurance on the phone when I arrive to confirm the billing would be fine, they said no as they don't have time to speak to insurance about billing. I was disappointed as it seemed they did not value my time as the patient at all. There was no effort to help me or honor anything I made so much effort to confirm in advance. It was just total unwillingness to accommodate anything that may have gone slightly outside the usual office practice. This left me without care after 5 days of waiting for the appointment, in pain and unable to eat normally. I'm sure the doctors at this practice are competent. But the fact that they waited until so close to the appointment to notify me of the issue, hung up the phone telling me to "calm down" when I was never rude in any way, and refused unequivocally to work with my insurance is truly disappointing. Good care is important, but so is willingness to work with the patient's insurance to bill services such that they are covered so long as accurately represented. Otherwise, patients are left needing to pay large sums for what could have been covered by insurance if the provider took the time to bill properly instead of blindly following policy. Another person below commented how this office was unwilling to work with their insurance living them with a bill for a crown double what it should have been. I discounted that review initially, but this seems to be reflective of a systematic approach by this practice.