ZOOM or Take-home whitening systems now 25% OFF!

To Celebrate 21 years of service we are offering a special on our whitening systems until March 1st!

The ZOOM system is now $512.25 and the Take-Home is now $354.00. 

The ZOOM system is our "Cadillac" version of the in-office professional whitening systems.  You will have dramatically whiter teeth in 2 hours.  We offer ZOOM in 2 appointments for even better results!  The package also includes a home "follow up" kit. 

The Take-Home system is for those who would like to whiten in the comfort of their home and around their schedule.  Our lab fabricates your trays and Dr. Knapp prescribes your whitening solution. 

 Makes an excellent gift for the holidays!

Changes with Washington Dental Service

Dear Friends and Loyal Patients,

Over the past few years I have struggled with concerns about Washington Dental Service.  Since your employer has purchased a WDS plan, I want to share with you some of the ethical dilemmas I have been experiencing.  I suspect some of these will come as a surprise to you because WDS does not tell its customers how it operates.  As a participating dentist, I am required to abide by very specific restrictions they impose on both you and me.  Those restrictions have a direct impact on not only the services I can offer you but on the way you and I interact about your health and your dentistry.

During my dental career, the basic principles of dental care that I was taught in dental school and also learned from hundreds of hours of continuing dental education have formed the foundation of my dental practice.  These principles also form the foundation of what is required to become licensed to practice dentistry in our state and represent the minimal standard of care throughout the United States and Canada.   The WDS guidelines would have me abandon some of these principles for no reason other than to reduce costs they incur and to sell more policies.  Let me underscore that the guidelines to which I refer do nothing to protect you or increase the quality of care you receive in either my practice or any other WDS practice.

For the past 2 years WDS has frozen participating dentists fees and just recently WDS has sent a letter to all participating dentists informing us they have unilaterally changed our contract with them with a 15-22% decrease in our allowed fees.  Keeping this in mind, I think you should know some more facts about WDS.  WDS is not a insurance company.  They are legally defined as a dental benefits company.  This loophole has allowed them to stockpile a surplus fund of over 145 million dollars.  During those past 2 years of ‘frozen fees’ their profits have soared, they gave themselves a 1.7 million dollar raise in 2010.   They are not accountable to the insurance commissioner, their clients or anyone.  The implications from WDS’s action is clear, WDS is positioning themselves to direct you to seek care from discounted dental clinics who must ethically cut corners to stay in business.  WDS is interested in market share not dental care.   Because of the conflict between my commitment to you and your care and the cost-cutting schemes of WDS, I can no longer lend my name to the program.  For these reasons, I have chosen to discontinue my contractual relationship with WDS effective 08/01/2011.

Why have I not done this before?  Two reasons.  First, these restrictions have come about gradually, and it has only been in the last few months that the full implications of their strategy have become apparent.  Second, quite frankly, I have been concerned that you would not be willing to pay the few dollars extra that will be necessary to stay in my practice when I am no longer a WDS provider.  I have always been extremely sensitive to the financial concerns of each of my patients.  I understand how difficult it is to manage any cost increase, and I have wanted to avoid that.  I am hoping, however, that you feel so well served by our practice and this honest communication that the subsequent change in procedure will not cause you to shift to another WDS participating dentist.  There are implications for you, and I believe they are minimal.

• ·         Under your WDS policy, you may continue to come to my practice; you will not be required to change to another dentist.
• ·         We will continue to submit your claims as we have done in the past, as we have always offered this service to all of our patients.
• ·         You will be free to select that treatment that best fits your wants and values without anyone limiting your selections.
• ·         You will receive reimbursement from WDS for the treatment you select, although the percentage of the fee you receive in reimbursement may be somewhat lower.  How much lower is dependent on the policy that your employer purchased.   You will always know the fee well in advance and we will support you in planning how your treatment will be scheduled so that it remains affordable for you.

 I hope we’ve been able to help you see how hard we have struggled with these questions.  We value you as a patient and sincerely hope that you will continue to choose our office for your dental care.  You can continue to have every confidence that the choices about your dental health will be yours alone and that your care will not be compromised for any reason.

You may have questions for us, and we invite your call.  Any of my team members or I would be pleased to discuss this with you.  If you call for me during work hours and I’m not available, I will call you at home that evening.  Although we have wanted to speak with everyone personally, we chose to also send this letter so that you could reflect on these thoughts and about the date we selected.  I look forward to continuing to serve you and your family for many years.    

Sincerely,

Rory A. Knapp D.D.S.

Update on Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 04:50PM by webmaster

Dear Friends and Loyal Patients,

We are now in the first month of discontinuing my contractual relationship with Washington Dental Service (WDS).  We would like to share some more information about this dilemma that we have learned just recently.  Please remember that WDS is the one who has changed the rules for both the providers and the employee/patients.  They had contracts with both the dentists and your employers that have been altered significantly.  I now believe that they have become so big and powerful that they believe they can play by any set of rules that insures increased profits—that’s how they define “insurance”.   Let me show you how WDS has found a two-headed coin so that every time they flip it- they win. 

Let’s put dentists on one side of the coin.  As you remember from my last letter, WDS has changed their contract with dentists by a 15-22% decrease in allowed fees.  So with the WDS ‘fee freeze’ of almost 3 years, this decrease set my fees back 10 years.  Unfortunately no one has frozen my monthly bills or set them back 10 years.  I submit that a dentist trying to continue business under these circumstances must seriously compromise care to stay in business.  So for example let’s say you chose to see a WDS preferred provider (PPO) dentist.  If WDS was contracted by your employer to pay $100 to a dentist for a service, after June 15 WDS only has to pay $78. The dentist loses because of the fee decrease.  The employer loses because they already paid for the employee benefit of $100 and now it’s $78.  The employee/patient loses because the quality of care has been decreased.  WDS is the only winner as they make up to 22% more profit for doing nothing but changing the rules.

Now put the employee/patient on the other side of the coin.  For example let’s say you chose to stay with your dentist who is now ‘out of network’.  If WDS was contracted by your employer to pay $100 to a dentist for a service after August 1(the date I left the network) they will only pay a much smaller amount than the $78 in the above example.  We have just learned they are decreasing their allowed fees between 30 and 60% depending on the service.  This means of that $100 they might only cover $40.  The employee/patient loses because now they have to cover that difference between the $100 and the $40.  The employer loses because again they have paid WDS for a $100 benefit for their employee who now is only getting a $40 benefit.  The dentist is also a loser because even though our fee is not decreased in this example, the financial hardship and confusion that has been placed on the employee/patient has and will alter the flow of dental health care.  Again WDS is the only winner as they now make up to 60% more profit.  So if you multiply their increased profit ratios of 22-60% by the many different dental procedures and then multiply that by the hundreds of thousands of employee/patients they cover you quickly get to some incredible numbers.  Sound fair?  Either way the coin lands, they win!

So how do other insurance companies treat this relationship between PPO and ‘out of network’?  In my 20 years of dental practice I have only contracted with WDS, no other insurance companies, though we have always had many patients who have chosen to come to our office even if I was not a PPO provider.  Right now there are 20 or so of those different insurance companies that send me payments for treatment of their clients.  On average those insurance companies discount my current fee schedule 8%. So those patients are responsible for that 8%.  From the examples above WDS is discounting up to 60%.     No other insurance company that I know of treats their clients(you) with such a penalty for retaining your freedom of choice in the patient/dentist relationship.  In my opinion this is a strong-arm tactic to instill enough ‘financial’ fear in the dentists and you so that we forget about choice.

 We have many patients that are upset with the current situation they are in and many others are still confused.  My main point of all this ranting is to suggest that if you are concerned or confused about the intentions of WDS please contact your HR department and let your voice be heard.

- Ask why have my benefits changed/decreased in the middle of the year.

- Also ask if at least ‘the company’ is getting some kind of refund from WDS and/or if their premiums have been reduced. 

-Ask for an insurance option that does not take away choice.  

 Again this is not your employers fault but it seems from our perspective that there has been a lack of concern on the employers’ part.  I suspect that WDS has been telling companies something to the effect that now they will be able to hold premiums in place for some time into the future, which your employer would be thrilled to hear, but all the while WDS will be extracting huge profits out of Washington State dental healthcare and ultimately our own community.

I must end on a happy note.  Thank you for working with us during this difficult and confusing time.  I look forward to continuing to serve you and your family for many years.

 Sincerely,

Rory A. Knapp DDS

WSDA-PNDC Convention June 2010- Go Mariners!

We attended PNDC Convention in Seattle and attended a Mariners game.  They WON! 

Open House was a successful event!

June 10th, we celebrated our new building.  The weather was in our favor; and the evening was filled with fun and laughter as well as family and friends.  Our patients enjoyed a catered BBQ by "Michael's on the Lake" and wine tasting by Imbibe.  The children loved the "bounce house" we had rented and spent most of their time in it. 

We had a silent auction for the local Boys and Girls Club.  We raised $1202.00!  Thank you for your generosity for a great cause. 

Thank you to everyone who was able to be a part of something so special to us. 

To another 20 years, we couldn't have made it without our wonderful patients!

WE MADE IT!!

 We are proud to announce that we have officially moved into our new office!! And when I say 'new', I mean new-new-new office! Its sooo exciting.  We have been hard at it learning about all our new technology and equipment....also we are going PAPERLESS!   This has been a hectic, challenging but oh so exciting time for all of us here at Dr. Knapp's office.  It's a pleasure to serve our patients and our community and we thank you for your patience with our ongoing transition! We cant wait for you all to visit us!! 949 E. Nelson Rd., Moses Lake