ObesityHelp

I selected Dr. Chae based on his location and reputation and first attended an information seminar in early 2008. After finishing about 1/2 of the 6 month qualification process for my health insurer, Cigna, I dropped out.

I was slated to have the Lapband and has misgivings about it. In early 2010 I contact Dr. Chae again and restarted the qualification process.

I completed my steps (nutritional consults for 6 months, nutritional class, psych evaluation, physical and questionnaire) in August 2010.

It took Dr. Chae's office about two months to get me approved and initially they made a mistake and got me approved for Gastric Bypass when in fact I had decided to have the VSG/Sleeve. That caused a lot of unneeded stress because it wasn't discovered until about ten days before my scheduled surgery.

They got back in touch with the insurer and eventually got the VSG/Sleeve approved. The outcome was positive (I had the surgery) but the process was more stressful than it needed to be.

While I found everyone in Dr. Chae's office to be friendly, I constantly felt that *I* needed to be on top of every step of the process because if I wasn't, it felt that it wouldn't have gotten done.

While I am happy with Dr. Chae and the outcome (so far) of my surgery, his office staff/processes leave a lot to be desired.

In the end I would do it all over again, I just wish there was a little bit more attention and communication.

Update 12/26/2010: My weight loss has continued to progress and I'm now down about 70lbs in about a month and three weeks.

Also I have been told that when the mistake was made that caused me to be approved for the wrong procedure (Gastric Bypass instead of VSG) that Connie (Dr. Chae's office manager) stepped up to the plate and called Cigna daily. Thanks Connie!