should I look for another surgeon??

Hello, I already have gone through all the pre-op appointments and have approval through Tricare for the actual surgery.  The problem is, I called to set a surgery date with my surgeon...and apparently she is looking to renew her malpractice insurance and is not sure if she will be able to afford it because it costs over 100G per year just for this particular surgery (RNY) and because she takes on medicare and tricare she tends to lose money on these surgeries.  OK, sooooo the question is....should I hold out or just call insurance and change the surgeon?  My fear is I will have to possibly go through the process again?  Does anyone have the same experience or have any suggestions????  Please let me know!

Be open with your insurance company and explain to them what has happened.  I am not sure, but I would think that your preop stuff should be ok for someone else, unless they require more.  I would certainly look into it.

Good luck, Diane

Thank You, I'm doing just that!

You're very welcome.

I changed surgeons too. The first surgeon's office had submitted my paperwork to insurance, though I hadn't gotten approval when I made the switch. The original surgeon's office let the insurance company know I had withdrawn from their practice.

Meanwhile, my second surgeon, who eventually did my RNY, accepted all of the paperwork that was in my file. I didn't have to re-do any tests. The only thing I had to do was meet with the new surgeon. (The two surgery groups both operate at Cedars-Sinai here in Los Angeles out of the same offices/department, so they are aware of one another. But technically they are separate corporations.)

My insurance co. didn't flinch about the new surgeon since he's also at a Center of Excellence, yadda yadda...

I had surgery about 10 days after my initial meeting with my new surgeon--ALL that I needed was insurance approval since I had already done EVERYTHING else. He had an opening for that day and I took it, and that was it.

I hope that this helps. If you have more specific questions, I will try my best to answer.

Good luck!

Well, I did call around and found out that, like you said, I will be able to switch without any trouble.  I just have to go to my primary care physician and have her refer me again.  I was hoping to get the surgery by mid October because mid-November I go on my externship for school....I see you recently had surgery...how did you feel 2 weeks out? 

Yay--I am glad that you were able to make those calls before end of business yesterday. I imagine that you should feel MUCH better about things now.

I felt pretty good 2 weeks out. I have to say, I really had an easy recovery--went walking on the beach 8 days post-op. I was more tired than usual for a few weeks but other than that, things were much better than I expected. I had never had major surgery before so I was kinda nervous.

Good luck with everything--please let us know how things progress!