New Center of Excellence in Kansas!!!

Shawnee Mission Medical Center was approved as of 1/24/07 as a center of excellence. That will allow medicare patients to have bariatric surgery in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The only question is wheather a surgeon associated with SMMC will perform surgery. I attended a seminar from Dr Hoehn and Dr Hitch**** and they were sort of reluctant to do medicare patients if SMMC were to become a COE due to the reimbursments from medicare. Its all about the money!

Wow it is about time!!! Now if only a surgeon will step up and start performing the surgeries. Steph

Thanks for the info!!!!!! I hope you don't mind but I copied your post and put it up over at lbt.com as well (on the insurance board, and the kansas board)

Hello, Dr. Hoehn did my surgery and I have been to several of the seminars. They sd that they would do the surgery if it was approved by medicare but they sd that they also have to factor in the persons health and age. They sd that they have had problems in the past getting acceptance for people who are older and on medicare. They are willing as long as a person can pass all the pre-op evals. They don't want to operate on someone who maynot live thru the surgery. So far I don't feel like it has been "all about the money" with them. I am a self-pay person with no insurance and they have treated me like anyone else. It is just like anyone else preforming a service.

I am living in the southwest part of Kansas. Is there a name and number of who to contact and get some info on weight loss as oppose to the surgery.