Anyone's advice is appreciated!!!

 I'm going to vent for a few, so please be patient with me.

I am currently seeing Dr. Evanson for my RNY. I've met with him once, done all my work with Dr. Stote and the dietician, and was approved with my old insurance BCBS. I was told that Dr. E's schedule was full until after the first of the year, and was told that my new insurance UnitedHealthcare would be a breeze to deal with. Tanya from Dr's E's office informed me that all I needed was my approval letter from BCBS and United would approve me right away. Well, that's not true!! United is telling me that they don't know why my dr's office would tell me that, and that they don't use approval letters from other insurances.

I'm so upset because Dr E's office knew that my husband's insurance was changing, and because I've been dealing with this since July. Also, when I call Dr. E's office for Tanya or Amy, I don't get them, I get a voicemail. Does anyone know a way around this. Does his office have a office manager?  Also, has anyone had any experience with this situation before?

Any advice would be appreciated. I don't know if I should pursue this with Dr. E, or try to find a different doctor. And, by the way, I have UnitedHealthcare EPO, and they do cover RNY.

 They should be submitting a new insurance approval request to your new insurance. If they cover it then you should be fine. I go through clarion & they always get back to me within 24 hrs. I would keep calling every few hours & leaving new voicemails until they answer you! 

Thank you for your message. Dr. Evanson's office told me they submitted my work on 1-3-2011 to United, but as of today, United told me they have not received anything. What burns me up the most is when I call Dr. E's office, and get the voicemails for the ladies I'm working with, they inform you not to leave multiple messages! I'm so frustrated!!! I'm wondering if I should find a new doctor or keep pushing forward with Dr. E's office.

 United said the exact same thing to me, that they had no record of receiving anything & they kept saying it for weeks until I went to my doctors appointment & saw that they really did submit it to them on 12/2/10, finally they acknowledged that they received it & it was being reviewed on 12/26/10. United takes up to 30 days for their approvals & most of the time you get "I don't know anything about that this is just customer service" Don't give up, you will hear from them, you've gone this far just hang in there. 

Thanks for your positive message. As of today, I have not called Dr. E's office or my insurance company. I'm trying to be patient and wait until Friday to see if I hear from someone. I'm sure I'll give in and call both 100 times today!!!  Do you know what happens if you've already been approved by another insurance company, and your spouse's employer changes insurance carriers, will the new one cover you?  I was told by BCBS that United would approve me with the approval letter from them. United told me the same thing on Jan. 3 and 4th, and now, they are telling me that they don't do it that way. Grrrr!!!   lol

Unfortunatly you new insurance company could care less about what your old insurance company approved.  You will have to start fresh with them and what ever their approval process is.  I had to call daily to my insurance company and the doc till I got the insurance company to tell me they had received it.  I think my doc had to send it 3 or 4 times. 

As a side note, you are probably better off waiting untill you had your new insurance company to do the surgery.  IF you had the surgery with your old insurance company and then dveloped complications there could be a possiablilty that your new insurance company would have not covered your complications for a million different reasons. 

So frustrating I know.  Good luck and I hope your new insurance approves you soon.  Think positive you have done everything you need to do now, its just a sit and wait game again.

Kim

Thanks for your message Kim. I feel so depressed, but I'm not going to give up. My mother-in-law told me that I need to call Colleen at Dr. E's office and talk to her. She said she's the office manager, and that I should let her know that I'm not getting my phone calls returned from Tanya or Amy. I'm not sure if I should do that. 

I guess all I can do now is wait, and I'm not the most patient person. lol.

I was very impatient waiting for my approval too.  It is hard to be patient, esp when you were already on the move and had the OK from one insurance.  From my experience all the staff, including Colleen, are wonderful.  I would e mail her and she would usually get an answer for me in a day.  Her e mail is [email protected].  I know they prefer you call and leave a message, not email, but I found she would get answeres for me much faster than waiting days for a call back!   Amy was wonderful, she seemed to be the one I was in touch with most.  [email protected]  Amy McGuffey.  Good Luck! 

well, unfortunately your not going to talk to anyone at dr e's office this week! they are closed till monday when they will be in their NEW office.do you have their new contact info? colleen is definitely the person to talk to and make sure that she is sending it to the right place. i called back and forth between them and my insurance for almost 2 weeks before they realized they werent even sending my info to the right office. you have to keep on them to get anything accomplished. wishing you the best of luck. if you need their new info PM me.

 The best way BY FAR to communicate with Tanya is via email. She and Amy spend a lot of time on the phone on hold with insurance companies. That is why you get their voicemails. They can't just click over to a new call and then lose their call with the insurance company. 

However, while they are on hold, they can respond to emails. MSG me for Tanya's email addy if you don't have it on your paperwork from your initial group meeting/consult. There was a packet in there regarding insurance approval process and her email is on there.

Also include your name and birthdate in email subject header.

Good luck with United!