Dietician Consultation

Has anyone with BCBS of GA had to submit a dietician consult? That is what the ins. is waiting for to send my information to the review board. ANyone that has come across this before I would love to hear how it works.

Almost every insurance plan requires a psych consult & a nutritional consult. Usually each surgeon has their own pipeline of who to go to. I know my ins paid for it, but some don't. My ins didn't cover the psych consult so I paid $225 for that out of pocket (2001). Your surgeon should have someone to refer you to for this. If they don't, question how they expect you to know what to eat following surgery. My nutritionist went into detail about the postop diet and it was wonderul. I saw a gal at DeKalb Medical Center. (My md was Sidney Appel). It is very important that you understand the changes that are going to occur. It is also very important to follow the postop diet your md gives you. You need to understand the MAJOR changes you are making to your life and be able to handle them. That is why the ins co wants you to have these consults. Why should they shovel out $20,000 for you to have this surgery if you're not going to do what you're suposed to to lose the weight? Or refuse to comply with your new eating requirements? So this is not unusual at all. (By the way, I am a nurse that does precert reviews for medical necessity, and see this all the time.) It truly does make things go smoother to have everything in place before you submit it to ins or the md reviewers. If you take the time to be complete and thorough now, it looks better than to have to keep adding stuff you didn't do or have in the original request. Of course, it all comes down to the precert company and the insurance company as to what happens. And we all had to hope for the best when we did that part!! Good luck, I hope yours gets certified quickly! karen (9/6/01, 297/146)