Sonnastine Question

Question about insurance stuff. I had my first office visit/ consult on 3-23-07. They JUST filed the insurance claim for the OFFICE visit ONLY on 5-2-07. (They have NOT filed for pre-authorization yet at all; my psych visit was on 4-12.) Do things usually get filed this slowly? (Or is this slow?) The sleep doc and the gallbladder ultrasound were done AFTER I met with him and the insurance claims for those have been finished for a while now. I do not want to pester his office staff, but they seem VERY busy; maybe too busy? (Sign of a good doc, right?!) Melanie g.

Yes, I spelled his name wrong! I forgot an "N"!

Hey Melanie! Well...yeah, I had to "pester" to get mine done. But didn't take long to schedule a date when they got that approval, within minutes, I had a surgery date. Give them a call, push a little. Maybe call every other day, until it gets done. THEN you get to bug the insurance company every day! Yay! I got my fingers crossed for you. ~Kat

If I have to "pester" the office staff to do their job, that tells me that they do not have a very professional attitude towards obese people; that they can just shrug us off. I have to think about that; whether I want to deal with that. I have never had any trouble with Humana. But I will call the office in a couple of days; I want to give it a couple more days now that the first claim has at least been filed. I just wanted to know if it is normal for a month to go by before the initial office visit is filed (for whatever reason) from someone on the board before I go and irritate the people in the office. If it is, then it is and I am fine with that; I am not in this huge hurry, but I don't want to let something go that I should have been checking on. The binder says to NOT call the office for insurance questions; it says to mail or fax! I DID send a fax last week and did NOT get a call back. The phone number and fax number in the binder they gave me was not even correct. I feel good about Dr. S, I just don't know about the rest of this stuff. Melanie g.

Once you get past this part of the journey the rest is easy. I think the staff are nice but they are pretty busy and people can be sidetracked. Just work with them and as long as ins cooperates you will have surgery within a few months.

Melanie, It should have been sent already, but since it has not...my suggestion is to e-mail Taryn...They are a busy office, but they have one person that is responsible for this...and if she isnt doing her job....Taryn need to know about it...Dr Tom is the best...Sorry you are having to deal with this nonsense... Good Luck Amy

Melanie, I just sent this information over to Taryn..I am sure you will hear from her soon. Thanks Brenda

I can't believe they only have one person doing this - as big as their practice seems like it is. That seems like a LOT for one person! Melanie g.

It is alot but don't let that refect on Dr. Tom. I believe his staff is hired by ST. Luke. When it comes to Dr. Tom he goes all out for his patients. It is alot for just one person and you do have to be active in the process but they do a great job. Mine was done 19mths ago. We are all so anxious and they just can't give an exact date when they will send all the paper work off. Not only is she filling but then she is doing all the appeals. My primary care office took longer when they filled out disability papers. Good luck. Jane

I had to be a pest about mine too! I can see how the people that call get their file pulled and placed on top of the stack for her to work on and the quiet ones get further and further down in the pile! I have stated several times that if I didn't want Dr Tom, I would not have put up with his staff. I also understand that some of them are hired by the hospital which doesn't justify it, but it explains a little the indifference at times. Taryn and Tom are the reasons I will continue as a patient.