As you are very well aware, a number of people have not been able to visit their dentist during the C-19 crisis. A recent article (https://www.yahoo.com/news/dentists-extract-fee-patients-keep-083213602.html) points out, as restrictions lift, a number of patients have returned to see their dentist only to find a slew of new fees to cover new things like “infection control.” To be sure, a number of patients feel annoyed by this “new” cost of care. Is this right? Well, this most certainly depends on your perspective and perhaps language means something. Let’s take a further look.
No doubt for patients, such fees could and will be off putting. Healthcare costs can no doubt be expensive to begin with and being subject to more “fees” is simply not easy. In addition, despite the pandemic, many patients feel the practice should be costing “infection control” into their cost of business–in other words, this is an expectation of being open to business. Finally, the stacking of “fees” like resort fees, parking fees, etc. is something few people have tolerance for. From the office’s perspective, there is no doubt a real cost to maintaining an additional level of hygiene that did not exist prior to this pandemic.
So what is our opinion? Well, everything has changed and at the same time, nothing has changed. We have no plans to increase our fees or add a line item for COVID-19 related costs. In the end, there is no substitute for safety and this will remain our commitment at McGann Facial Design.
If you have any questions related to our fees and/or services, please do not hesitate to contact our office. Stay healthy!
