East Bay Area physician

Hey gang,

I moved to the East Bay area from Virginia in July 08. I had my surgery in 4/06 and need to find a follow up doctor who accepts United Health Care.  So far, I can only find physicians in the Kaiser network.

My regular doc is doing my blood work and such, but I would feel better with a bariatric surgeon looking after me.

Thanks!
Tracy

you don't need a Bariatric surgeon looking after you, you need a Primary Care Physician who understands what your labs should be.  Where in the east bay are you?

If you definitely want a Bariatric surgeon call United Healthcare and get a list of Bariatric surgeons in the East Bay.  If you want to know who has the best reputation post again with the list of names and I'm sure you'd get a lot of feedback.

It seems like a lot of bariatric surgeons aren't "in network" for a lot of the insurances. They will take them and submit, but they won't show up on the list of approved doctors.

That said, I looked up the bariatric surgeons for UHC during my company's open enrollment and there definitely are ones in our area. Have you checked out the UHC site's doctor finder thingie?

I have a primary care physician, but he does not know all the specifics that we need to have done and monitored.  I spoke with my nurse in Virginia, and she gave me lists of things I needed to have him test for.  We did, and have adjusted things accordingly.

That being said, I do need a specialist to continure to monitor my situation, as we all do.  Primary care doctors aren't up to date on all the complications we could have, or situations that may arise.  For example, my pouch is acting up and I am vomiting ALOT, and my GP wants to send me to a regular gastrointerologist.  I checked with this doctor, and he has NO Gastric Bypass patients. 

Our bodies have been so severly changed, we need to be followed by people specifically trained.

I have contacted UHC and there are NO doctors listed as Bariatric, that is why I am posting here for some help. 
Tracy

Ajay Upadhyay has an office in Oakland and somewhere else in the Bay Area. I'm not sure as to what insurance he accepts, but his number is 510-869-8972. I know that he does take on other surgeons' patients.

Albert Wetter is a good Bariatric Surgeon, he's at Mills Peninsula in Burlingame.
Dr. Mary Estakhri is also a good Bariatric Surgeon and is in Pleasanton.
My Pcp is Paul Robinson in Castro Valley and he gets Bariatric Surgery.

Hope this is helpful.

If UHC told you they had no bariatric surgeons, then the person you talked to was confused. This doesn't surprise me... I had so much trouble getting any accurate info from those people.

But you can go to www.uhc.com and use their "Find a Physician" tool and it will give you a bunch of names -- some of which are even relevant. The search tool kind of sucks too so it works better to put in the names of particular bariatric surgeons who practice in the East Bay and see if they are in your plan. The last time I did this, I found:

Kazantsev, George
Upadhyay, Ajay
Estakhri, Mary E

Estakhri practices out of Valley Care in Pleasanton and Livermore. Upadhyah practices out of Alta Bates in Oakland and I think Kazantsev does as well.

I think the Weightloss Surgery Center at John Muir Health Center in Concord takes United Health, at least they used to.  The 2 doctos and office staff are all great.  You can find out about them at www.johnmuirhealth.com

Tracy,

Welcome to Cali and to the East Bay!  Taz is right, there are great docs at John Muir in Concord and they have a great support group too each 2nd Sat of the month.

I know that Valley Care Medical Center in Pleasanton does Bariatric Surgeries so you might call them to see who is licensed there.

Again, welcome.

Barb

Thanks for the replies!  I at least have a starting point now!