Pre-op Update

Jul 06, 2012

I have a date set...my surgery is now on August 6...31 days!!! CIGNA changed their pre-op requirements from 6 months to 3 months. YAH!! This is awesome BUT this means I have had less time to get all of the pieces together for sending in to CIGNA. According to my surgeon's office, they have my psyche eval and nutrionist eval already done. I have my 3rd WL class on Monday which completes my 3 months of Dr supervised WL...of course I didn't lose anything...sigh....but supposedly that doesn't matter. I still need a medical clearance from another dr besides my bariatric surgeon.

I had a pre-op physical with Dr Gulley (PCP) a couple of weeks ago. I told them I needed a letter of medical clearance to dr Metz by July 9. As of yesterday they have not sent the medical clearance letter to Dr Metz so I called them today. They claim it is in the works and will be there shortly. This is my new PCP who I don't know very well. So far I'm not impressed if they can't get a medical clearance letter to my surgeon. They have had 2 weeks which should be plenty of time! ARGH!

I have another Dr who is also sending a letter of medical clearance... my pulmonary dr who I met with a week ago. I had a pulse-ox overnight (to check if my CPAP is set correctly) and a chest x-ray. As of yesterday their letter had not gotten to my surgeon's office either...sigh...so I called them today too. My pulmonary dr has written the letter. They found it in my chart. So I asked them to fax it again to Dr Metz office. They said they would do that right away. I had also asked my therapist to write a letter for insurance. Her letter has not arrived at my surgeon's office yet either...of course. I don't know that I will worry about that one. I have my psyche eval and they said that was enough. With any luck my surgeon's office will have all of the pieces by Monday to turn into insurance.

If I can give any advise right now, I would be to stay on top of your insurance requirements. Don't assume your dr office is taking care of things. Make sure YOU know what the insurance requirements are directly from your insurance company. Keep checking with your drs to make sure all of the pieces get to whoever is turning things into insurance. Bug them every day if you have to! I will feel SO much better when I am officially approved by CIGNA. If they have everything they need, the will turn in to insurance early next week. That needs to happen so there is enough time to get that approval back. I need my surgery date to stick! I have been planning! Wish me luck!

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