Credit Card on File Policy

The primary reason is for streamlining our collections and payments process, as well as convenience for our patient families. This will speed up check in for patients as well. Also, if a family member or caretaker is bringing in the patients, you will not need to give them your card for any patient copays. We need to be sure that patient balances are paid in a timely manner.

We aim to be fair and apply the Card on File policy to all patient families, even those on Medicaid. Most of our patient families are wonderful and pay their balances. Unfortunately this is not always the case. Most balances owed are very small and typically less than $100. Regardless of balance size, we will provide a courtesy call and text to let you know we are charging your card on file.

All patients are required to keep a credit or debit card on file. This policy isn’t personal, we apply it equally to all of our patients. By doing it this way, the temptation to play favoritism is eliminated and it removes us from the uncomfortable situation of having to decide who has to follow the policy and who doesn’t.

The alternative to keeping a card on filing is pre-paying for all appointments. If this is the case, we will reimburse any payments from insurance back toward patient payments.

Yes. Your signature indicates that you understand our policy or the appointment pre-pay alternative.

Once your insurance has processed your claims, they will send an Explanation of Benefits (EOB) to both you and our office. Any discrepancies in what the insurance paid versus what they told us when verifying eligibility and benefits will be investigated by our Accounts Receivable team. The goal of helping families maximize their dental benefits. Once any insurance payments have been processed, we will inform families of any outstanding balances as well as notes on what the balances are for. We will call and text as a courtesy before charging a card on file.

We do not store your sensitive credit/debit card information in our office or on our server. Your information is stored on a secure credit card processor online vault. This vault we use is a secure payment processor that meets the industry standards set forth by the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) and is certified at the highest level attainable. Once we enter your information into the payment processor vault, your information is securely encrypted and we do not have access to view or edit the information. Our staff are only able to see the last 4 digits of your credit card – just as any online retailer does. This vault is only used to process your payment and email you a receipt once payment is processed.

Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards Council offers robust and comprehensive standards to enhance payment card data security and reduce exposure to credit card fraud. PCI Data Security Standards (DSS) provides an actionable framework for developing a robust payment card data security process, including prevention, detection, and appropriate reaction to security incidents.

Your credit card information must be provided to front office staff before you are seen by a provider. For new patients, a CCOF must be collected at their first appointment. For existing patients your card info must be provided at your next appointment, if not already presented.

Yes! You can keep your HSA card on file.

Even with dual insurances, there are times when the patient family has copays or deductibles. Dual insurances are also not guaranteed to Coordinate Benefits. What we are seeing more often is if the primary insurance pays anything, the secondary insurance often will not pick up the difference in patient portions or copays. Please keep in mind we will not charge your card if you do not owe anything.

This is not surprising as this is not yet the norm for dental offices. However, Credit Card on File (CCOF) is the new standard in the healthcare industry nationwide, and soon all of the high quality medical and dental practices will adopt it. Many urgent care centers, medical practices, imaging centers, and outpatient surgical centers already have a Card on File policy. Likely, your gym, hair stylist, Netflix, Amazon, online shopping or monthly utilities you pay online or via autopay already require you to keep a credit card on file.

Our team will spend less time calling and texting patient families in regards to their account balances. This will also help minimize mailing paper statements to patient families which will save trees, money and time as well. In addition, sending patients to a collections agency does cost us a lot of time and expense. Our team will be more efficient since card information will not be needed for every transaction, which will make check in and check out seamless. With this extra time our team members will be able to continue to spread magic to our patient care in our office and continue to give exceptional customer service.

When you come to our office and receive services, you do so with the understanding that you are ultimately responsible for the cost of your care. We bill your insurance company for you and help to get you the best possible coverage for your care. CCOF will only cover your responsibility after your insurance pays its share.

First and foremost, it is far more convenient for you – you don’t have to call the office or buy a stamp, worry about delays in the mail, or worry about getting around to paying the bill. It takes the hassle out of the process, especially for patients who have HSA cards to pay for their dental care. If you get your EOB and want to use a different card, you may still do so, as long as you do so promptly.

We hope that this doesn’t happen. Although we love technology in this office, WE review the accuracy of each claim processed by insurance. We will contact you if we find an error. However, you will also receive an Explanation of Benefits in the mail from your insurance, which will reflect if there is any balance required. If we have already collected payment and you would like to dispute the balance with your insurance, once the issue is resolved we can write a reimbursement check promptly.

Our staff is happy to speak with you about your account at any time. Please call our office at 702-805-8185 during normal business hours or contact us via email at info@firstbitedental.com.