Question for Dr. Aranow Patients

Hi all- I have just finished all my pre-op checklist items so they should now be submitting my paperwork to the insurance company.  I know my insurance company covers the RNY so I don't think it will be a problem.  I was wonder what the waiting time was from the time you finished all your pre-op and the time you heard back?  I don't want to bother the office, so I was just trying to get an estimate of how long I should go before being concerned.  Also, what was the turn around time from acceptance to surgery date? Thank you all for your help! Michelle

hello! congrats on finishing your checklist! it took about 5 business days to find out of it i was approved, i have BC/BS. louis called me to tell me i was approved and she also gave me my date! my date was booked about 4 weeks out, now im just counting down my days! keep us posted! good luck! marlena

Hi,  First of all congrats!  I know how hard getting everything done can seem, kind of like a  never ending process!  Anyways, after they submitted I promised myself that I would call the insurance company after 3 days to check (my friend who worked insurance said that I should call and keep checking)...well after 2 days I called just for kicks.  Imagine my suprise when they said it had been approved that morning!!! I called Lois who checked it and then called me back and bumped up my surgery date a week and a half!   Good luck!  Keep us posted! Hugs, Tracy

hi michelle- i am scheduled for the lap band on sept 4th.  i had all my stuff done by august 3rd.  They submitted it all to healthnet the following monday (6th). and minus one small setback (initial denial 2nd to missing paperwork), i had an approval by thursday, and a surg date on friday (10th)- so about 1 week.  you should hear from the office by midweek,  and as long as all goes smoothly, i would bet you could have a surg date by mid to late september.  just call the office and keep on them- thats what they are there for- i called them a few times to move things along because i had really wanted to have surgery in august (i was going to do a breast cancer walk in october again and had wanted enough time to recover and train) but dr aranow was away for an entire week in mid august, so the earliest they could get me in was sept 4.  Dont be afraid to call them if you dont hear in 2 or 3 days.  Good luck and please keep in touch- it is nice to be able to talk to other people going through the same thing!   Laura.

First of all.... Congratulations!  Time frame depends on many factors.  It shouldn't take too long though.  You can always email Lois.  I found this the best way to get the answers to your questions with out "bothering" the office.  Lois is real good about responding to email with in the day.  And the beauty of it... she does it when she has a free moment so you arn't bothering her. 

Good luck with everything.  You're going to love DR. A!  :-)

Hi, My insurance approval took about a week.  Once I got my approval, I was given my date which happened to be only 11 days later.  I think I got lucky though because the above poster who is booked for 9/4 got her date like a day later than me.  It was definitely quick after all the months of waiting.  One note about the e-mail-I've never gotten it to work.  I don't know if it's me, but I've copied it directly from the sheet and it always gets returned to me. Jen