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Medical Forum / General / Dentistry / April 2006Dentist "lost" x-rays
I have a question about x-rays. I had panoramic x-rays taken at my dentist, but now I moved and changed dentists and wanted to have my old dentist forward x-rays to the new dentist, so I wouldn't have to pay for them again and expose my head to more radiation than necessary. My old dentist says that they mailed originals to the insurance company and didn't not keep the copies and that by law they are not required to keep the copies. I wanted to verify if that's correct and can I do anything? Insurance companies manage to disappear quite a lot of X-Rays. We always keep copies or digitized images for ourselves because of this. Your dentist is probably right. Don't blame him for what your insurance company does. Jorge Bonilla DMD > I have a question about x-rays. > I had panoramic x-rays taken at my dentist, but now I moved and changed [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > I wanted to verify if that's correct and can I do anything? You aren't required to keep copies, but you're foolish not to. The dentist should make an honest effort to retrieve the x-rays from the insurance company. If the x-ray is over a year old, I probably wouldn't bother. Panoramics aren't that useful for caries or periodontal disease assessment in any case--at a minimum your new dentist will want to take at least a few additional x-rays anyhow. Steve Insurance companies will return the x-rays after they used them to make decisions about claims relating to you case. It is possible that they got lost in the mail if that is the case blame the post office or the insurance company. I've had a case recently where the insurance company sent my office x-rays belonging to a patient not in my practice. This is exactly what can happen when you have insurance companies outsource claims for review by foreign licenced dentists. There is no tracking system in place for this problem. Fortunately with digital x-rays everyone who needs to get a copy will be able to have good quality images and losing them in the mail will not be a problem. This does require the dentist taking the films to have a good back-up of the hard drive as electronic data can be lost due to hard drive failure. > I've had a case recently where the insurance company sent my office > x-rays belonging to a patient not in my practice. Another good reason why the patient should own their own x-rays. If there is any doubt just inform your dentist that you don't want them showing pictures of your mouth about town to strangers! >>I've had a case recently where the insurance company sent my office >>x-rays belonging to a patient not in my practice. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > is any doubt just inform your dentist that you don't want them showing > pictures of your mouth about town to strangers! Anyone not wishing to allow release of their x-rays to insurance companies may, of course. You sign that little box on the insurance claim form to allow it. Of course, that means the insurance company won't pay. Your choice. Steve > Insurance companies will return the x-rays after they used them to make > decisions about claims relating to you case. Why does the insurance company get the orginals but the patient only gets copies? Whether insurance and/or patient gets originals depends on the dental practice some simply send out the original because they have no means of duplicating the film or are not reimbursed for the duplicating. It's not like insurance companies pay for the duplicating there is no billable ADA code for this, ask a patient to pay for the duplicating so that a copy would be sent to the insurance company especially after they just paid for the originals and all you get is complaints. There are double film for intra-oral small films but not for Panorex. >>Insurance companies will return the x-rays after they used them to make >>decisions about claims relating to you case. > > Why does the insurance company get the orginals but the patient only > gets copies? The insurance company shouldn't get the only original. I use double films, so I have two originals. Steve Most dentists try to have a "backup original", either duplicate film or digital image. We've decided to do this because insurance companies tend to lose them. What we haven't thought much about is that the making of backups is practically duplicating the cost for us of each film, while the insurance company will pay less than our regular fee. You have double panoramic film??? Also I think if the insurance company needs to see an x-ray then the insurance company should pay for the film. > You have double panoramic film??? > Also I think if the insurance company needs to see an x-ray then the > insurance company should pay for the film. No, I don't do pans. I don't know if they make double pan films, but they should. Insurance companies manage to lose my digital files too. ;-) (I don't have digital x-rays, but I use NEA--I scan the x-rays) Steve > You have double panoramic film??? > Also I think if the insurance company needs to see an x-ray then the > insurance company should pay for the film. Shouldn't the patient pay?...they are the one who wants something from the insurance company. T I think the patient should pay for the x-rays needed for the procedure. Any other x-rays are unnecessary exposure to radiation even with digital and if this is required by the insurance company to process the claim and the patient consents for these x-rays so that the insurance company pays the bill then I feel the insurance company should pay for these films. This way insurance companies have an inscentive not to subject the patient to unnecessary radiation. Insurance companies are not health care providers and if they manipulate the patient and doctor to perform unnecessary x-rays for the purpose of delaying or "processing" claims then it is only fair that they should pay the bill. After all the patient is not directly paying for their consultant dentist to process the claim why should they pay for films that the insurance company wants??? Does not make sense to me. I realize this is not how things are done now but it should be one as I described to be fair to everyone. > Insurance companies will return the x-rays after they used them to make > decisions about claims relating to you case I didn't realize that insurance companies were liscenced to practice medicine, maybe I should have my car mechanic shedule me for surgery! Yet many patients leave the fate of their teeth based on whether their insurance company will pay for the procedure. So despite everything people tend to trust their health to an insurance company more than their health care provider. Most people tend to foolishly believe that the people paying their bill really care about preserving their teeth. Truth be told ..... The insurance companies do hold the line on fees and costs ..... without which some dentists run wild! Joel  SignatureJoel344 |
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