ObesityHelp

Hospital Reviews

(Belvidere, IL) - Barix Clinics (NW Suburban Com. Hospital)

Surgeon Info:
Surgeon: Eric T. Vaughn, M.D., F.A.C.S.
Right from my very first meeting with Dr. Vaughn I felt confident in him. He took the time to discuss the surgery with me and addressed any concerns I had. He has a good sense of humor and that helped me to feel a little more at ease. My impression of him only improved with time - he showed a genuine concern for my well-being and took the time to explain the operation and what to expect after the operation in detail. I have to be totally honest, while I was very impressed with Dr. Vaughn I was less than satisfied with his office staff. To be quite frank I found his office staff to be rude on more than one occasion. I had a couple of different concerns regarding my insurance and a couple of other matters and his staff not only failed to return my phone calls but they were very unhelpful, short, and rude with me when I finally did get in touch with them. There really wasn't anything that I didin't like about Dr. Vaughn. He stressed the importance of following the aftercare instructions. He emphasized that proper after-care will aid in the success of this operation. I am not aware of any structured aftercare program other than maybe the consultations with their dietician at the hospital. The nurses at the hospital were very knowledgable and discussed some of my post-op concerns with me. I was really impressed with the nurses and the atmosphere at the hospital - everyone was so helpful and understanding. He addressed the risks of surgery with me throughly. He did ease my concerns by letting me know the number of these operations that they have preformed and the very high success rates that they have had. Overall I would rate him a 9 on a scale of one to ten. He really does need to talk with his office staff though, and explain that without the patient that they wouldn't be getting a paycheck. When you call a place two or three times with no call backs you start to wonder what their care is going to be like. When I did finally get a hold of them I felt like I was a inconvenience to them and they were rather rude with me (which I probably was too, but wouldn't you be a little upset after trying that many times to get someone to return your call on more than one matter?). Customer service goes a long way and to be honest I was so upset for a while that I was actually considering having the surgery somewhere else. Maybe I just caught his office staff on a bad month, remember these are my own personal impressions and others might have no problems at all. Both his surgical competence and his bedside manner were great. I really liked him both as a Doctor and as a person. (He has a great smile too!) I would recommend him to others.
Insurer Info:
Blue Cross/Blue Shield of IL.
Absolutely Horrible !! There are not enough bad words in the dictionary that I could say about them !! They lost my records, then they lost my letter of medical necessity (thank God that I had made a copy). First they told me I was approved for my local hospital and then they sent me a letter saying that they had made a mistake and that hospital was not on the plan. The Doctor was covered but the hospital that they operated at was not. Then they approved me for the hospital but not the Doctor at the Bariatric Treatment Center. I had to jump through hoops to finally get it all sorted out. They would NEVER return my phone calls - not even once! I had to pester them constantly to get answers. One of their reps actually told me quote "maybe you need to try a better diet first before you go this route, this is a very extreme measure" I was SO MAD I could have just screamed !!! All I can say if you have to deal with this insurance company is GOOD LUCK - make sure you have a copy of ALL your paperwork and be extremely persistant.