PIOG regarding UCSF

Hey all,

I posted this on the main board, also. But someone suggested posting it on our CA board, too. DUHHH. lol. So here were my questions/comments:


My insurance is contracted with UCSF/Dr Rogers. How hard was it to get all your ducks in a row for surgery? It seems their list is HUGE. A bit overwhelming for someone like me who's just starting out on this journey for information. Are any of these ( just the ones highlighted in color) things scary/painful? And do the farthest below Required Consultations automatically come when they read my results/reports of the below tests? Or do I have to go sit with them after my tests, face to face? This is so confusing. I'm sorry if I sound like a moron.

Required Tests

• Abdominal ultrasound
• Blood studies including a complete blood count (CBC), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), cortisol, creatinine, electrolytes, prolactin and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH)
• Cardiac catheterization
• Chest X-ray
• Colonoscopy
• Echocardiogram
• Electrocardiogram (EKG)
• Flexible sigmoidoscopy
• Mammogram
• Pap smear
• Pelvic ultrasound
• Pulmonary function tests
• Treadmill stress test if able to exercise or persantine thallium scan

Required Consultations

• Evaluation and clearance by mental health care professional such as psychiatrist, psychologist or therapist*
• Evaluation and clearance by cardiologist or heart specialist*
• Evaluation and clearance by pulmonologist or lung specialist*
• Evaluation and clearance by a registered dietition
• Documentation of weight loss (5 percent to 10 percent of body weight) by primary care doctor

* Please note that the evaluations must contain wording that clears the patient for surgery.

My question is who has had Dr Rogers (and or UCSF in general) as their surgeon (surgery location), what procedure did you have, and are you happy with the results and the Doctor?

Thanks Everyone!

Adrienne,

Hi there.  Dr. Rogers was my surgeon and I loved him.  Don't let their info scare you.  Briefly, I wanted to have my surgery at John Muir in Concord because that's where I live but my insurance had a different idea.  To this point, I was going to self pay the surgeon at John Muir and let the insurance pay for the hospital and anesthesia.  I met with Dr. Chin at John Muir and he wanted the following test done: endoscopy, and wanted clearances: pulmonary and cardiology.  I decided to have my colonoscopy done at the same time as the endoscopy (easy breezy).  I met with the cardiologist who ordered a nuclear stress test (not a bad experience just kinda weird.  I met with my pulmonologist who ordered a pulmonay functional capicity (no biggee).  I did my nutritionist and psych through John Muir and I was all set to visit Dr. Chin with the results and I'll be darned once again, the insurance had a different plan, they weren't going to pay for the hospital or anesthesiologist if they didn't pay for the surgeon and they weren't paying for the John Muir surgeon.  So at that point, I decided to join them rather than try to beat them and got approval to go to UCSF.  Dr. Rogers was "assigned" to me and he is an absolute wonderful person and fantastic surgeon.  He was as pleased a*****h that all my tests were done and all he had to do was the surgery.  They wanted to schedule me the week before Christmas, but I said no and asked for the 1st appointment after New Year and had it on Jan 8th with absolutely no complications.

Hope this helps, I wrote a lot on my blog about pre & post op experiences, so that might fill in the gaps.  Let me know if you need more info or I can help.

Welcome to the Cali board, we're sure glad you're here and hope you'll stay around.  We do a Nor Cal luncheon once a month at Chevy's in Pleasant Hill and I do the the John Muir support group once a month.  Hope to see you at the next lunch.

Barb  

That is quite a list.  There is not much more that I can add to what Barb already said, but if you have a colonoscopy, you do not need the flexable sig, there is only one way in for both exams, the colonoscopy is the better way to go.  The difference is one is just more extensive and it just covers more territory.

Good luck, Diane