KAISER CA: BIG NEWS regarding the DS!! (maybe just NorCal?)

This just in from Barbara Metcalf, the Program Director at Pacific Laparoscopy (Dr. John Rabkin's practice): Hi all, Just want to share some very good news with you all. Kaiser has recently been sending their patients to us for DS if requested by patient. Kaiser surgeons have come and observed the Lap DS with Dr. John. Now we have signed a contract with them and please help spread the word. It will probably take a little time to get the ball rolling, but it is final now. Barb  Well, I don't trust Kaiser further than -- well, I don't trust Kaiser AT ALL.  So I asked: Are you saying that Kaiser is not going to initially DENY their patients the DS, if they request it?  REALLY?  Or does this just mean that, if the Kaiser patients go throught he entire miserable appeals and DMHC process and win, then Kaiser will grudgingly send them to PacLap? And her reply: Diana, It means patients dont have to be denied anymore.  Once they see their PCP and request a DS they can then be referred to PacLap.  Just like any HMO.    Isn't this great?   Barb Again, I don't trust Kaiser.  I want to see this HAPPEN to a few of you first. And I'm sure it only applies in CA, and may NOT even extend to SoCal, but it gives some hope to those of you dealing with Kaiser in CA right now.  The best thing?  Kaiser pays ALL of the costs, including the upfront fees usually required for other PacLap patients. WooHOO to all of you who have fought with Kaiser all these years, and to the DMHC lawyers I have been speaking with since October about this issue, who I suspect played no small part in making Kaiser stop their unconscionable practice of pretending the DS doesn't exist, denying people *****quested it, and making everyone who insisted go through the entire miserable appeals process, KNOWING for the last 4 years that the DMHC would ultimately overrule them. Diana