Pre-determination

Don't want to get my hopes up to much..I received letter from Univerity Surgical Associates ..signed by Pre-determination Specialist . The first line of the notice is

"Good news you are approved!" Okay, i am excited and hope this means, YES, my insurance has approved procedure.. i have cardiac stress/echo scheduled. as soon as i get results/clearance completed, i am to contact dr tanner's office for appt for surgery.. should i call the office and make sure everything is a go? Don't want to get my hopes up and then be let down.  YEP , I  AM A LITTLE MORE THAN MILDLY EXCITED... (My daughter is nurse at kosair's, works in er.. i wanted to call her to share news, but she is at work and i so wanted to share with someone. so i hope you all don't mind that i shared with the forum... i  I enjoy reading your comments and/or questions., i have learned a lot from you all sharing your journey(S). again,  thanks,  my name is Cathy

Hey Cathy, I am going to say that everything is more than likely a go.. regarding your insurance anyway.  I think the last part of the "approval" process is getting cleared for the actual surgery itself (as in someone looking at your cardiac stress/echo and saying you're healthy enough for surgery)... I think the insurance is the big battle and you've got that one licked!! I'm really happy for you.. This is a brand new life. Good Luck!!

thanks  for response.  i am excited and a little apprehensive at the same time..i have thought of this surgery for sometime. definitely decided to follow thru with it in february.   prior to then i was not mentally prepared to consider and/or follow thru with wls. i am just tired of going up/down and not really have true weight loss. after you lose and then gain it back sooo many times, you kinda lose confidence in yourself.  i started a journey in february and i  mean to reach my goal. getting ready  for work and gotta go. thanks again for the best wishes..

Hi Cathy, Dr Tanner is my doctor too. I finished all of my pre -op test this week from cardiologist and pulminologist .  I received a letter from Dr Tanner saying my insurance needed this info before approving so I hope now I am about ready for my surgery appointment . My heart goes out for all of the patients that jump through hoops for months to get this operation. I have only been in the process since March and it feels  like it has been a lifetime. Let us hear your sugery date and everything about it please. Good Luck, tricia ann

i have humana.. i contacted them when i seriously started pursuing wls. i started seeing pcp on monthly basis 02/08... received letter today from insurance.. always hard to understand all the terminology but it looks like authorization may be for procedure to be conducted 08/08...august would by my 6th month of seeing pcp......still positive news.... my pcp conducted pulmonary function test... cardiologist scheduled visit 06/16/08 with stress test 06/23/08... by the time results get to dr tanner and i get an appt to see him to schedule surgery.. i guess it will be about the same timeframe as projected by insurance provider..... 

That is Great news! I would be excited I can not wait to get that letter. I still have 3 more months to go on my weight mangement for Humana though. So I am only half way to that point.  Let us know what happens.

I also have Humana and next week will be my 3rd month.  What diet are you on and what does Humana want the doctor to list about appointments.  I want to make sure that nothing messes this up for me.  I have not lost anything yet.  Are you having the gastric or lapband? Cheryl

I am doing the lap band. I have a paper that was given to me at the meeting I went to that I gave my Family Doc that she fills out. Alls I am doing is seeing her once a month talking about what I am doing and what I need to do. She records my weight, BMI and all that kind of stuff. I have not lost any weight either. I keep going up and down about 5 to 10 pds. What are you doing for yours?

when i go in for visit, i let her know what i weighed last on my scale...(scale at pcp office does not record weight as high as mine) so we discuss what i weighed last.. what i am doing with my diet. My weight is going up and down. We also discuss how my pursuit for wls is going... she has been very cooperative... getting my records together and setting up vists...encouraging me. She would rather i have  RNY with rny weight., for faster weight loss...But i had already decided to proceed with lap-band....the nurse navigators with norton bariatric were very helpful in letting me know what was expected and keeping me informed of what i needed..