Approval Letter

I called BCBS GA PPO on June 24 and found out that I was approved. This after having submitted everything to the doctors office in the middle of March. However, they did not submit to the insurance until the middle of May. Anyway, how long did it take for you to receive your approval letter? Did your letter go to the doctor directly? I am switching doctors and have an approval number but was told that it is basically useless because the new doctor will have to submit everything all over again and will get a 'new' approval number. What are your experiences with this process?

Hey how come I have not heard from you more often. Stop being like that. Okay I am so happy you got your approval all right. Took long enough huh. Well it's here and don't dwell on the past of how long it took. Look toward the future on the new you and I will be thinking of ya. Keep us posted okay NAT

You have been given the correct information. Your approval is for a certain doctor for a certain procedure. If your new surgeon is with the same group of surgeons, then you should not have to submit another pre-certification. However, if he is not then when you resubmit your information make sure your new doctor is submitting all the information that the first one did with the same procedure codes if it is the same procedure. It should make the process go a little faster. Also, since you have a PPO you should be able to talk to someone in the pre-cert department and find out exactly what you need and explain why you switch doctors and if when you resubmit can it be expedited. Get a fax number and a name that you can fax directly to so that you can verify whether it has been rec'd(call to make sure it has been rec'd and doc'd) and that way if it gets lost in "healthcare fax heaven", it has been doc'd as rec'd and can be refaxed and expedited. Also, if you are comfortable with going to your HR department, have them call and see if they can make an exception. If it is a self funding policy, then BCBS works for them just like you do and sometimes can and will make an exception for the employer. I hope this helps.....Good luck