Insurance Information

What does “in-network”  or “out-of-network” mean?

Being “in-network” or a “preferred provider” for your dental insurance company means one thing. The dentist, by contract, agrees to perform dental work at significantly discounted rates and in exchange, they have a guaranteed stream of new patients into their practice through the insurance network.  This results in a high volume practice model, to make up for the discounted rates.  Saving money where we can is important, as cost of living prices rise everywhere.  However, when hiring someone to make recommendations for your health and perform procedures in your mouth, you may want to consider the downsides of seeking out discounted, high volume care, as you may end up spending more in the long run. The “preferred provider network” is a streamlined and proven marketing plan that many offices adopt, to ensure their chairs are filled with patients.  But, more volume means less time to spend with each patient.  And the insurance network constraints mean that more decisions are being made based on what the insurance will pay for, rather than simply what is in your best interest as a patient.

You can think about discounted dental care like building a home.  You may decide to hire the lowest-bid contractor to build your home but then end up with problems down the road due to that contractor cutting corners.  While securing the job to build your home by offering to do the job for the lowest-bid price, they are incentivized to work faster to make up for the low fee being charged, rather than taking the time necessary to do a quality job at a fair price.  In the end, you end up spending more after having to redo and repair the less than ideal workmanship.

Dentistry is no different. We perform a craft with our hands and the work we do has to be individually tailored. Treatment and preventative recommendations must be customized to your needs, wants and lifestyle. You are not buying one size fits all hats. To do all of this well, we need to spend enough time to get to know you, discuss our findings with you and help you decide what is best for you. When treatment is recommended you need to trust that it is really to your benefit and not being pushed to make up for the large write-offs being accepted on the regular services. You should feel confident that the dentist will spend the time necessary to create quality, lasting work that feels great and looks great and that they will stand behind that work as long term solutions to keep your oral health and quality of life at its best.

At Costa+Williams, our business is with you, our patient.  We believe you should be able to choose a dentist you trust and that the decisions of your care should be between you and your doctor.  Therefore we have always been an independent dental practice, choosing to value quality of care and patient relationships rather than being “in-network” with the insurance companies to ensure we have a high volume of patients.