To Our Treasured Patients,
 ​

After many months of deliberation our practice has decided to make an important change.  Effective January 1, 2025, we will officially opt out of contractual agreements with all dental insurance plans.

Dropping in-network insurance agreements was and is a difficult decision.  We wouldn’t be doing it if it weren’t necessary to our success and survival as an independent (not corporate) small business.  The dental insurance industry has become increasingly restrictive and does not allow us to provide the same, patient-focused, quality of care we strive to deliver. That doesn’t align with our model of care.  More and more private offices are making this transition.

We know that our decision to go out-of-network directly impacts you.  While most of your insurances will still participate with an out-of-network dentist (like we will be), you would get the most savings with an in-network dentist.  That difference in cost is less for some than others. Many of you have been seeing us as an out-of-network provider already. 

If you have a PPO plan, which most of you do, you have the choice to go to any dentist you want. It is not uncommon to go to an out-of-network provider. (Throughout the past year Dr. Rho has only been in-network with one insurance group.)

When you choose to stay with us:

  • We still file the insurance for you, and they still pay either you or us directly for their portion of your dental expenses.

  • The difference in cost out of your pocket is significantly less for patients who primarily need routine maintenance like x-rays, exams, and cleanings (maybe with an occasional filling), than it is for patients who need larger work like crowns, bridges, and implants. 

  • There are many dental insurance plans.  Some of them are much better than others.  To fully understand your specific dental plan’s benefits and reimbursements, we encourage you to reach out to either your human resources department or your insurance provider.  We are here to help you in whatever capacity we can, *but some insurance companies do not share out-of-network plan benefits with us. 

  • We can file predeterminations for you to try to help you estimate your out-of-network costs. We have geared up to do a lot of them while we are re-familiarizing ourselves with what we expect to receive now that we are out of network. 

  • If you do have pending work to be done and have seen us recently for a check-up and cleaning, we will still honor the treatment plans we already presented for up to 6 months.

 
For those of you who cannot justify proceeding under our care, we will absolutely respect and understand your choice.  We are also truly sorry to lose you.  If you need to explore beginning care with another office:

  • Visit your dental plan’s website & click find a dentist.  You can search by zip code.

  • Let us know when you find a new office.  Call us to request that we send your most recent x-rays.

  • If you do decide to find another dental provider, you are always welcome to return later, and we would be so happy to have you back with us.

 
Many of you have been with Dr. Johnson and Shirley for a long time.  Dr. Rho & the staff continue to value our relationship with you. We hope your trust with Shirley and foundations of trust with Dr. Rho are as meaningful to you as they are to us.   We would of course prefer that you stay, and hope that many of you will continue to work with us.  Take some time to decide what is right for you and your family and reach out. 
 

Cindy Rho DMD & Staff