Meridian Surgical Group/ St Vincent's Carmel

Have any of you had difficulties with the office?

I just found out today that since waiting since May that I was actually approved May 27th.   I had got an email approval on June 3rd that they did not accept because then needed one mailed, turns out my insurance company had contacted them by phone already.

When I tried to schedule surgery they said they would call 5-7 days because they were working on the order of approval.

Not very happy with the office.  Any advice, tips, staff you found to be helpful?

Even more frustrating because I work for St V's and find there customer servive appalling.  There is too much competition in healthcare for them to behave in this manner.

Hi there. As a person that also works in healthcare, I completely agree with you. We have already had some issues somewhat similar to yours with the office. I'm not sure what is going on over there, but it is definately frustrating!!! Good Luck to you and I hope things get worked out for you.. Let me know what you find out, and keep me posted on things.

Take care

i had a veryyy frustrating time in gettin my aproval faxed over to them. my insurance company would tell me they faxed my approval letter over to them , n that office would say they never received it.. took 4 phone calls n three emails to business manager over there before they finally received it, i duno who was messing up but it was very frustrating, then they said it would be  2  to 3 weeks to get a surgery date, when they did call, i wasnt home of course uh.. n jama said to call her back, i called her like three times and never got a call back then i did get her on the phone after the 4th phone call.

Hey Brilynn!! I used St Vincent Carmel as well for my surgery and I also work for St Vincent Health!! 

I used Dr RoseMarie Jones; Janie in the office was pretty expedient on the whole process and the scheduler there in the office is very sweet. I went for my consult and class on April 21st. Got approved through insurance about a week and a half later, Nutrition class was  May 18th and surgery was June 2nd.
However, my best friend that works in payroll had Lapband done in August of last year, and I started seeing the nutritionist here at the hospital around then because I knew that I had to do something... Just wasn't too keen on the idea of the band being inside of me... I am a little weird like that... But that helped speed the process up a whole lot for me.

I went into the consultation with my records from the pulmonologist and my pcp, a letter of recommendation from my pcp and my nutritionist and the history of the diets and weights for the past 5 years.

Good luck to you and I hope that they speed things up for you!!! Looking forward to hearing about your journey!! :-)

Brandy

I had not had any problems before my WLS, but now seem to be having  problems!   I m still waiting to be called back today,Thursday,  from a message I left on Monday to schedule a follow up endoscopy.  And getting anyone from the Dr office to call me back on Monday after the first scope was done last Friday was not a good experience!   I still feel like I get the best treatment with them though.

When I first started looking into the WLS I was going to use Dr Rose Marie Jones.. I found her to be very kind and informative ect but I ran into issues with getting paperwork sent in and mis-communication in the office and other things and I got so frustrated with everything that I just quit the entire process... its nothing against Dr Jones but there were some issues even a couple years ago.

Ok, after reading these post I see it is not me when it comes to this office. I have called every week for 10 weeks. No call back. At this point I am looking for an alternative. I want to do it at St. Vs in Carmel since it is 5 blocks from my house. Anyone know a Dr. They could recommend that is NOT associated with Meridian?

Also looking for some guidance on cost. I am interested in RNY but are hearing numbers between 12-28 thousand. Happy to pay 14 thousand, looking for the right dr. Out of st v. Who can do it. Thx in advance. I am a self pay.

If you are self pay, NEGOTIATE!!!!! Don't take the sticker price, any more than you would on a car. Ask about discounts, make offers. It's well worth the time.

Hi Taedog,

I'm a little late here in the conversation as I just found this formum but I was wondering if you found an alternative?  I had my consult September 3rd with Dr. Inman.  I checked out Dr. Sloan at Lutheran here in Fort Wayne and then also St. Vincents in Carmel.  Wow what a difference.  I am self pay also.  Lutheran here was $40,000 for surgeon, hosp and anesthesiologist.  St. Vincents and Dr. Inman (Meridian Surgical Group) are going to be $6,280 for Dr. Inman and assistant and $20,000 for St. Vincent & Anethes.  I just found this out today as I finally got ahold of Melissa in Accounts.  The price has gone up a little in the last month.  That is the cash up front price. You also get a 50% discount on cash pay for future office visits.  Dr. Inman's fee includes 90 days global fee (surgery and office visits) and St. Vincent's includes 3 days (2 nights) and all pre testing and post use of the Bariatric offerings.  To get anything under $20,000 total in the U.S. would be hard and you might have to go to a bigger city.  I know Mexico is a lot cheaper (check out "The world according to eggface" blog.  I had several non returned phone calls from the group but I was told at a support group last week that they just had a big office change and lots of people changed positions.  Know I know I am with the surgery scheduler.  So now I am waiting to hear.  It took my daughter, Steph, about 6 weeks to get a date.  Good luck.  

P.S.  I know it is a scary prospect paying for it yourself.  My worry is that I will also have to pay for any complications.  That could far more expensive.  But I am taking the chance and investing in my future! 

I had my surgery with Dr. Gupta when she was still with Carmel Surgical Specialists.  She's since left, as has Dr. Caccuci - I think Dr. Rosemarie Jones is the only one left.  I never had any issues with their office, but I've been less than impressed with Meridian group since Caccuci moved there.  My insurance was through St. Vincent's at the time of my surgery, and I found the Carmel Surgical Specialists office easy to work with.