A question...

Hi everyone-  I was wondering if anyone received their surgery approval in the form of a letter from thier insurance .   I was told I would be contacted by my Doctors office..which I haven't heard anything from.   I know its Saturday and all but I was wondering if this is standard procedure.  Also, my letter had a surgery date (April 4th)  or an "admit date".  Just checking to see if this is normal...  Thanks

What insurance do yo have and when did they submit.  Call the insurance co and dr office.

I received approval first with a phone call from the insurance company. I called the Dr. and they hadn't received it yet. They called a couple days later saying they had aproval and scheduled my surgery. I got the aproval letter in the mail the following week and it also had an "admit" date on it. I freaked out because it was a different date than I had scheduled with the Dr. A couple phone calls later I found out they had to submit the paperwork with date included even though it wasn't my actual surgery date. Turns out, everything worked out just fine. I suggest calling your Dr. office Monday afternoon.

good luck to you on your upcoming surgery.
Sue

I have an HMO. EVERTHING is from my PCP's office.

The PCP's referral sat in a holding file for two weeks before I finally called and complained to the head of referrals, dropping the name of  the patient education's director (a coworker).

Two days later, I had the referral for the surgeon in my mailbox. The wrong surgeon (our healthcare center works with two bariatric surgeon groups).

AFter I was given the correct surgeon over the phone, I called and scheduled.

My advice...  make sure you get a copy of your approval letter (sounds like you have it) and keep it.

I received a phone call from my surgeon's office indicating they received my approval.  My surgery was scheduled, and I had it.   Approximately three months later I received a call from the hospital and a bill...  indicating the insurance company never approved my surgery.  WHAT...  I told her - I never would have had the surgery if it hadn't been approved (just didn't happen to have the 40K hanging around, and that was just the hospital, that they said I owed them).  I told her I had a letter of approval from the insurance company... faxed it and cleared-up the issue pretty quickly.  My guess is it would have been cleared-up anyway - but, maybe not as quickly.

So - keep a copy of your approval letter - it sure can't hurt!

Good luck...
- Patty

Thanks everyone, I will call the Doctors office tommorow morning.   I was just surprised to see a date set without talking to me first to see if I was available (I am of course, lol).   And I will keep my letter of approval...just in case!   Also, I have Blue Cross (Anthem) insurance.

I know I'm a little late posting but my insurance called me directly to tell me I was approved. and my letter was going out in the mail. I had to call my dr. to see if they got their fax....which took them about 3 days to confirmed. (I was mad) I was also about to log onto my acct on online and it also had my approval which I also printed off and had to give it to the dr. office. I think they lost my paperwork. I would call the insurance company. Good luck.