FIRST HEALTH SUCKS @$$

Now that I have all my ducks in a row and ready to do the damn thing, something comes up to steal my joy. I have First Health. Dr. Alverdy is one of their network doctors and I chose him because he does the duodenal switch procedure. I have done everything but have my ultrasounds and sign my consent papers. I've been calling first health for 3 weeks for the outcome of the authorization. Today these idiots tell me that Dr Alverdy isnt one of their "bariatric network surgeons". They only have one doctor in the state of Il by the name of alex nagle. He doesnt do the d.s., makes you go through support groups and a whole liteny of crap, and to top it off, he just graduated med school in 97 and has only been doing the surgery for 3 years. What the *#!%??? I explained that the bariatric surgery is the only type of surgery Dr Alverdy does. Now I have to get Dr. Alverdy to join First Health's Bariatric Surgery Network.

Hi Tammy...I want to say that Dr. Nagle is a wonderful doctor. I had Lap surgery Jan 18th of this year. Yes, Dr Nagle requires that you attend support groups, and you must understand 100% what the procedure that he will perform on you is. He wants to make absolutely sure that you are completely educated and know the risks as well as the future benefits. The question that you should ask is not just how many years has he been performing, but rather what Dr. did he train under and what is the sucess rate of all his patients. So, before you get too "heated" about possibly having to call Dr. Nagle, who is w/ Northwestern Mem Hosp on St Clair in the city, Remember one thing....he doesn't accept all patients that want WLS so go w/the correct attitude and you will see how wonderful he is. Good luck! Dawn