Barrington/Good Shephard Support Group January

Dr. Hoeltgen's support group for January will be held on Wednesday January 10th at 7pm in the actual hospital itself. (Good Shephard Hospital, Barrington, IL) Ask at the front desk how to get to the meeting room for the support group. You do NOT need to have been a patient of Dr. Hoeltgen's to attend. You could have had any type of weight loss surgery to attend or you could be pre-op just looking for some answers. Attendance has been low and I think it's because the date was changed from something other than a Wednesday. Just trying to get some others to attend. I find it very informative! Hope to see you there, Hollie

Hello Hollie, My name is Kerry and I saw your post out there that Dr. Hoeltgen's was your surgeon. If you don't mind, I was hoping to ask you a couple questions. I am currently going through the approval process and working with a surgeon in Vernon Hills, Dr. McLellan. I have had time to do alot of homework because my insurance is requiring me to have a 6 month supervised diet before even considering approval. My husband works for Good Shepherd Hospital and my benefits would be better if I see a Advocate doctor but I am wondering if I should reinvent the wheel and go to Dr. Hoeltgen's office. I actually didn't realize that there was a bariatric doctor on staff at Good Shepherd because when I called the referral department they told me they didn't have one. I read your story and didn't see anything about how the approval process went. Could you share anything about that. Was it a smooth process and what kind of insurance do you have. That is the other thing, if I change, I have Humana HMO Premiere and I would have to find a new PCP that will refer me to Dr. Hoeltgen's office. Again, do I want to reinvent the wheel. This is all so confusing. Any help you can give would be so helpful. Kerry

Kerry, I emailed you! Hollie

Hello Kerry, I was so excited to see your post because I had RNY by Dr. Hoeltgen 11/15/06 using the DaVinci robot, and am very pleased with my care and my surgery. I also had CoreSource as a secondary because my husband used to work at LGH & Good Shephard and we still had Coresource coverage. He now works at Condell (where Dr. McLellan is) and has their insurance as primary. Condell's insurance was Allied, and they only cover 50% of MD & hospital, even if I had it done at Condell, but Coresource covers at 100% of both an Advocate Hospital & MD. That greatly influenced my decision, but I'm very glad that it did. This may be old information, but from what I understand, Dr. McClellan only does open RNY, whereas Dr. Hoeltgen's specialty is laparoscopic surgery, so that is what he does when he can. Anyway, I have to get ready for church, if you have any other questions and would like to e-mail me, I'd be happy to discuss it with you ([email protected]). Good luck! Linda O.

Dear Hollie, thanks so much for posting this. I have never been on the Illinois forum before, perhaps you've announced this before. Dr. Hoeltgen's office told me it was on the 3rd Wed at 7:30, so I went last month, driving an hour in the rain to get there. The people at the front desk thought it was meeting also, and they sent me to a room in the out patient bldg that was beyond a locked door. What a mess! Anyway, I'm glad to find out when the meeting will be, and I will be there. I'm looking forward to it. Linda

Can't wait to see you all there! It will be nice to have a somewhat bigger group this month! Hollie