All our staff would like to wish you Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Best of luck for your next adventurous endeavors. Our best wishes to you for your new chapter of life.
We are now in a new year, 2023, and farewell to the challenging year 2022.
2022 was full of great, unexpected but surprising events. Despite of all, we endeavored in a constant and continuous progress of our service and technology. We incorporate more digital dental equipment which allows us to a better care of our patients, offering more treatment choices and rapid and long last outcomes. We have prepared and trained our staff for this challenge, today we are ready to offer much better care for our patients in this coming year. We also have strived to overcome the challenge of global economic inflation. In order to endure this whole world inflation, our office is also implementing a few safeguards measures.
Over the last few years, since the spread of the pandemic, there has been an abrupt cost increase for all products and services all over the world. Dentistry has been strongly hit since the very first day back in 2020, shortage of PPE like gloves, masks, and sanitizing products made its price extremely high, it couldn’t be purchased even though their price on the market jumped quintuple from its regular price, but at the same time we couldn’t service our patients without these essential protection gears or PPE.
After considering the economic inflation for the last few years, rising mostly all internal and external services, supplies, salary changes, in general product value; today, we see the necessity of slightly raising our fees per service to meet this volatile challenging economy. It is important to know that this decision is not taken based on short-term predictions, but a two (2) years value market tracking.
Another change is that a fee of 3.999% will be added to all card transactions. Starting February 15, 2023, our office will be implementing this rate to all card transactions, ex. every $100 dollars there is a $3.99-dollars charge. This is a variable (+) surcharge fee that is regularly enforced from card companies to us every time we accept payments with Debit/Credit cards in addition to any taxes due per transaction. The surcharge varies per card company and may fluctuate from 6% to 11%. Please note that Florida taxes are not charged to you on any transaction type, this charge is already comprised in our service fee; you will be only charged for your card company’s transaction fee. NOTE that this charge will not apply to cash transactions. It means that you can avoid this charge if you choose to pay for your service in cash.
Our office does not offer payment plans or payment arrangements except for long-last treatment like the Orthodontic treatment. But we are always accepting pre-payments for future treatments. Patients may periodically deposit into their account any amount until fulfill the amount needed to over fees of the treatment desire. In addition, our office is affiliated with unique bank institutions which help our patients to pay for full treatment and return this financed amount with a minimum rate or $0 rates in most cases. Note that patients may need to apply and qualify based on credit history.
Our office will be requiring a deposit/partial payment for all those treatments which the required initial expenses in our end. In other words, if a crown, bridge, denture is scheduled, our office must pay a production of this piece to a lab or any other associate provider, in this case our office will be collecting half of this treatment fee to cover this upfront cost. How it may be benefiting our patients, well while obtaining this partial payment, we have actually split up this (usually large amount) fee in two payments, it will be sort of a payment arrangement, patients pay in two visits this out-of-pocket amount.
2023 may bring more surprises. In order to keep improving our care for our patients, our team will grow in numbers in this coming year with more enthusiastic and professional members, more people willing to help you even more. We heard from you, and we are committed to shorten our current waiting time for services, opening our emergency care schedule, and more just to broaden our care to you.
Introducing our advancements. Late 2022, we have upgraded and expanded our digital footprint to meet our patients demands and to keep up the growing dental digitalization market. We have launched a new communication system which allows us better communication with our patients. Among others perks, the system automatically sends appointments’ reminders by text and email, email office forms, follow up oral care, and allow us the texting feature. Our 3D multifunction x-rays allow us to plan for more effective treatment, a few examples are Ortho, Implants, RTC, Crows, Dentures, and TMJ disorder. Note that some of these services were previously referred to secondary providers.
Our new digital scan and milling machine stand up over our advancements, it permits us to have a same day crown service, service that was previously referred out and use to take up to a month to be fulfilled. Our website www.jrivasdental.com has been upgraded. It looks, and functionality is more modern and advanced. Our patients are able to communicate with us, make appointments, check on our office services, ours, staff, location, holidays, among many other information, and it is multilanguage.
Please, do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
We’re committed to keeping you informed and continuing to enhance our quality service for our patients. We look forward to helping you gain a big bright smile for this new year!
Dr. Rivas and J. Rivas’ team