Dr.Bellows patients Please reply

How many of you have had your surgery put off? I'm seeing and hearing that lots of people have been
being put off.
My medicaid approval expires march 31st my surgery
is scheduled for march 21st. This means if I am put
off.
I will have to get an extension from medicaid and
with the new healthcare plans in motion, It may mean
that I will have to redo all my pre ops.

 I called  bayou health  yesterday. The lady on the phone told me to make sure that The plan i chose covered the surgery and doc. i selected  LA care. i think you are good the official chande does not  go into  effect until april 1, my date is april 11th lol!

 I talked to Bayou Health again today.  I am on Louisiana Health Care Connections now.  I know for sure that Dr. Bellows is covered on that one.  My change was effective Feb. 1 since I am in southeast Louisiana.  Effective dates vary depending on your location.  I was told today by a supervisor for Louisiana Heath Care connections that I will NOT have to repeat anything.  YAY!!! I just need Sheila or Vanessa to get them all of my info so I can be approved.  And he assured me their approval takes 10 days max!  So hopefully I can get Sheila or Vanessa to get their stuff together and send off my info!  I am tired of this juggling act!  

I have louisiana health care solutions also, and yes, Dr. Bellow's accepts it. I have completed all my test, my last one was last week at the cardiologist's office, They faxed over my clearance and Shiela called me and said it wasn't enough information. So I had to call the cardiologist's office and have them send complete reports from ekg, echo, and stress test. So for those of you who still need to go to a cardiologist, remember all test results have to be sent to Dr.Bellow's office not just a clearance. When on the phone with Shiela I inquired as to why so many patients state that they were put off or pushed back on their surgery dates. She told me it was due to the patients not losing the weight they were told to. She said they have now implemented a new protocol that has patients go weigh in prior to pre op appt. and pre admit appt.It is done at Tulane lakeside. I will be going there on Feb. 22nd for a weigh in.

So is the surgery done at Lakeside? or Downtown?  I was told to lose 20lbs before surgery.  I am down 10 so far.  I just can't seem to get ahold of Vanessa or Sheila, or when I do, I feel like I am being put off or they don't know what else to tell me.  Before the Medicaid switch happened, all I was waiting on was for them to send off my info to Medicaid so I could be approved.  That was a month ago.  I call everyday.  If I get Sheila she says she can't tell me anything because all of my info is at the Lakeside office.  I haven't gotten Vanessa in a few weeks.  I just don't understand what is taking so long.  Submit my stuff already!  I have done my part, now they need to do theirs!  Hopefully I hear back from them soon. 

Surgery is done downtown at Tulane hospital. Shiela and Vanessa are only in Dr.Bellows's office on Thursday and Friday.Have you did your cardiology visit yet?

 No, they told me to schedule that after medicaid approved me, but I am thinking I may go ahead and schedule it anyway.  I thought they were in the office only on Thursday but thanks for the info.  I am going to keep them on redial all day tomorrow and Friday until they give me some answers! lol....

cardiology appt. Has to be within so many weeks of operation .... not ahead of time.

HI!!! OMGOSH I FEEL SO OVERWHELMED IN THIS PROCESS NOW. I TOO HAVE DONE ALL MY TESTING THAT WAS ASKED AND I WENT IN TO TULANE LAKESIDE ON FEBRUARY 8 AND HANDED IN MY LAST PAPER REQUESTED WHICH WAS FROM MY NUTRITIONIST. I COMPLETED THE SLEEP STUDY, PSYCHOLOGICAL, PSIOLOGICAL ETC. AND NOW EVERYTHING IS TO BE TURNED INTO MEDICAID AND I AM KNOW WAITING THE 4- 6 WEEKS THEY SAID. MY QUESTIONS ARE: 1. SHOULD I BE DOING ANYTHING ELSE IN THIS TIME BUT WAITING FOR THE MAIL FOR APPROVAL OR SHOULD I BE NAGGING SOMEONE, LOL!!!! 2. I ALSO HAVE THE MEDICAID CARD BUT I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHAT YOU GUYS ARE TALKING ABOUT WITH THE NEW PLANS (MAYBE I SHOULD READ MORE) 3. WHAT IS THE TIME LIMIT FROM APPROVAL TO A SCHEDULED SURGERY DATE???? I AM SORRY IF I AM ASKING A LOT OF QUESTIONS BUT AS LONG AS IT HAS TAKEN ME TO GET TO THIS STEP I DONT WANT TO MISS ANYTHING

 All I can tell you is prepare to wait.....Vanessa had all of my info and my pretests in the beginning of December.  Told me I would know something in 4-6 wks...Now we are mid-Feb and she still hasn't seen them in!!!!!!!!!!!  I have an appt with them so I can ask WTF to her face on Friday the 24th!   I am beyond overwhelmed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!