Chicago MIBC or WISH CENTER AGB/LAP

Hi Everybody, I have been reading your stories and wish everyone the very best. I am going to two seminars this week. I definately want the AGB don't think I would even be considering anything else. Has anyone had the procedure done through MIBC or the Wish Center in Illinois? Also how much is the procedure? Straight self pay. SM

I've heard rumors here on the site that The Wish Center is filling for Bankruptcy and going out of business...you might want to ask for written confirmation that they ARE NOT before you proceed with them. (I say written because they tend to not honor their verbal word...) Good luck! Brandy -75

Thank you so much. I am going to their seminar tonight. I will post my findings. So fair I like the information of the MIBC more. They do the AGB as same day surgery.

Yes, they do the lap band, The WISH Center that is. Hopefully, you will have Dr Rosen for the doctor Q & A. He was my surgeon, great sense of humor and very smart. He will look at all of your medical history and be very open and honest with you on what he can and cannot do for you. He is a tough cookie and will pull no punches with you, he will give you the facts and only the facts, he will not sugar coat anything. I had open RNY with him on 5/7/03. As far as what some other rumors that you are hearing about them having financial difficulties, I just got off of the phone with an employee of theirs because I was discussing my statement with her and I asked the question of the backruptcy and she claimed no they are not going bankrupt, there are having financial difficulties though she did admit to that. I do not know if she would have given me a straight answer anyways, but it did not sound phony to me on the phone how she handled the question from me. I would give them a chance and see if you like them at the seminar. They have a very well rounded program, before and after care that is. If you have anymore questions afterwards just email me.

Christine, I went to the seminar at the Wish in Downers Grove. I have to tell you I was not too impressed. We watched a video which I felt was very impersonal and cold. The doctors voice on the video was very boring and I had to take a couple of deep breathes not to fall asleep. Afterwards Dr Salvino (the voice) on the video spoke to us for a few minutes. I didn't ask about the bankrupcy rumors. I did question on his experience with the lap-band and he confirmed that it was new in our country and their facility had only done about 50 in the last year and half. I think that alone convinced that I would not use them. I do have the financial phone appt since no one would discuss charges. The marketing person was also a patient who had the open RNY 3yrs ago. She was very pleasant and was truly the only part I enjoyed.

Sandra, yes the Power Point presentation is what you said, but it is a lot more than you get some other places. The seminar that my husband went with to at Suburban Surgical Care (SSC) isn't even professionally done, it is just slapped together with some images that the doctor talks about as they are up on the screen and then pictures of patients. My husband's bariatric surgeon does not even come close on the pre and post education of the patient like WISH does. My husband has been to both seminars, WISH and SSC and he feels that WISH wins hands down in how they have a more professional presentation and the patient education pre and post op. Well, I guess maybe you are the type of person that judges a book by its cover (and some people are very, very good judges of character and are very discerning), but the presugical appts are a bevy of information and education that I carried into my PO life. My husband actually wishes that he had his surgery with WISH because of the patient care PO. He wasn't educated on the PO proper eating like I was with WISH. I learned the disipline with the practice diet and can handle my foods much better than he can. WISH has a fantastic support group, whereas with SSC's support group leaves a lot to be desired in that it is not well run and the leader is sort of a control freak. This is not just my husband talking about the support group, I have been to it also as I know other patients from this practice that say the same thing. I started out my journey with SSC for my surgery so I have been through the process with both bariatric centers. I will pass onto WISH your observations about the presentation. I still have a lot of contact with them via support groups and I am still in contact with one of the pysch doctors there in that I e-mail back and forth to her. I wish you all the good fortune in your pursuit to your surgical goal. Keep us informed on the board. And if you need any other on the board feel free to ask.

Christine, I don't judge a book by its cover but I appreciate your sharing your info. with me. I had a blotched surgery (not wls) by one surgeon years ago and for me I listen to my inner feelings when it comes to doctors or facilities. Having worked for surgeons for 17 years you pick up on certain things and though they may be awesome for others for myself I would like someone with more experience in the procedure that I have chosen. Again thanks and I will keep posting .

Hi hon.....Oh it was a nightmare with that place. Well I will start from the beginning..I picked the WISH center because they are right near my home. So I call and do the online seminar because my Husband and I have only one car and he always has it. I work from home. After the online seminar I called back and they asked about my insurance info and made my first appointment. In the meantime I received the packet of info and filled everything out, got my physical which you need before your first appointment. Well as you know the first appointment is 5 hours long. So after being there all day...having all my testing done..seeing everyone, the insurance lady comes in and hands me a sheet with the costs and then proceeds to tell me that on top of my insurance I will need to have $4000 by my next appointment in 8 weeks. I almost had a heart attack!!! I *****ed them out so bad..of course this was after I stopped crying. They made me go through all of this and never once told me this upfront. My husband works for BNSF Railroad and has very, very good insurance there was no need for me to give a deposit. Then to make matters worse..Dr. Rosen tells me they have to make there money. I couldn't believe it!! I am crying and he is worried about the money. Well needless to say that was it for me. I didn't want a Dr. that cared more about money (when he would have been paid by insurance) and I didn't like the fraudulent way they do business. They reel you in and once you have been there all day and have to pay for that first visit..throw a huge wammy on you!! Then it took a call from my attorney to finally get all my medical records sent to my new surgeon at Liv-Lite in Chicago. (Dr. Boffa) They have been WONDERFUL! They handled everything with insurance and they are really supportive and nice. Dr. Boffa is also a Trauma surgeon as well as Bariatric so that is a big plus. I figure if he puts really messed up people back together he is good at rearranging things also :0) I feel very confident about my decision to go with him and Liv-Lite. email received which i wanted to share with all researching

I went to the seminar at CHICAGO MIBC and I had to respond to my own question for those researching. From the moment that my husband and I walked in, there were two, if not three employees with us at all times. The presentation was done with a powerpoint but the powerpoint was only a tool. The speaker was one of the surgeons. He was very detailed and spoke with great confidence. I especially appreciated the comparison to the eating habits in Argentina (their homeland)VS US. He never rushed and I could have sat there listening to the info all day despite his heavy accent. Dr Santiago Horgan was the second speaker. I had no doubts this was for me, but if I had Dr Horgan closed the sale. Knowing that Dr Horgan trains the doctors at other hospitals to do the lapband was awesome. In his words, " would you want the teacher or a student". I was very impressed with the LONG LIST OF RULES issued to patients. In his words; "this appointment you expect from us, the next one we expect from you". I love the fact that he mentioned that he cancelled surgery on a self pay minutes before he was scheduled to start because she did not follow the rules. Also how he would rather have half of the patients with a positive outcome. Dr Horgan is a pioneer in the field and his facility is the ONLY one approved by the FDA to do the procedure on teens. We met with the coach who is a patient and she shared her experience as well as showed us (her tummy) we couldn't see the port marks. They even had an Insurance Rep and a bank rep. They get a BIG A+ in my book. Pre and post op care was discussed and I liked walking away with all of the information. I will be scheduling with them on Monday.

I had the same experience with the WISH center - went through the 6 hour appt, met with the financial person last who told me that getting my insurance to cover was not going to happen and that I needed a $2,000.00 non refundable deposit to pay as the Wish Center bills the surgery "out of network" even tho the surgeon may be in your network for your insurance. The thing that really upset me was that I found this out at the end of an over $900.00 first appt so if my insurance wasn't going to cover, I was going to have to pay all of this up front. I did get my insurance to cover by ME appealing, Wish Center was NO HELP AT ALL in getting my appeal done, it was me calling, me sending letters from my family, my doctor, my friends to get it done, it took me 6 months, but I finally did it. After all that, I did have surgery with WISH Center and got my final bill after ward in addition to the $2000.00 that I put down, I had to pay over $4,000.00 more because of the "out of network" doctor and anesthesiologist that they used. Then even after I finally paid them IN FULL, they kept sending me a bill and threatened to send me to collections. THEN, I went over my bills closely to notice that any time that I called the WISH Center after my surgery to speak to a nurse or nutritionist they were CHARGING me for 15 minute increments for speaking to them about a problem. I thought follow up care was INCLUDED? Also, they charged my insurance company for my follow up visits as well and it is supposed to be INCLUDED. Even my initial appt I spoke to the psychiatrist for maybe 10 minutes and he billed for an hour! I can see now why they are having problems with finances because they OVERCHARGE everything and maybe the insurance companies are finding out. In the end, my surgery was somewhat successful, I started at 382 lbs and have lost 82 so far in 2 years, I feel I should have done better, I haven't been back to WISH center because of the problems with their billing department and I don't want to go through paying them all of this money and getting nothing out of it. I don't regret having the surgery, I just regret that I still have 150 lbs to lose and don't know where to turn.. anyone know a good revision surgeon who takes BC/BS PPO?