Total Newbie here, where do I start? (with Cigna PPO in MI)

I found this site via an online gal who had pointed in this direction and now I'm not knowing what to do! LOL I'm interested in finding a location covered by Cigna nearby and their website is somewhat confusing to me. I called them and they stated if approved, it is 100% covered, but I need them to pre-approve it prior to surgery. Now what? I asked my primary dr if I'm a good candidate and she said yes (hypertension and I think pre-diabetes, problems sleeping lately and bad heartburn a few times the past couple weeks...now I have two heel spurs in one foot, one in the other, and really bad foot pain on the side of my foot when I walk!) I haven't found a dr yet, I've found a location through their cigna website in Indiana, but would like it if I could find a place closer to home. (Novi) My parents are in Indy anyway so it's not a big deal, but What steps do I need to do now? Find a dr and go from there? Get a referral letter from my primary and send it to insurance? Ty for any help you can give or point me in the right direction.

I started out by calling my insurance to see if they pay for the surgery and what they needed to get approved. Then look around for a place to have your surgery. Like Barix, or CORI Centers. I went with BARIX. if you go read my profile, there is my letter in there from my PCP to my insurance. I got approved, and had my surgery 3/15/2006.. Good luck K~

Welcome Angela, I took the time to write you a rather long email about my experiences. Hope it is helpful and again WELCOME. Jill

Hi there Angela. You are not too far from me. I used to work in Novi and so did my husband when we lived in South Lyon, now we are in Pinckney. I still new to this as well. I have been to one seminar and I have 4 more to go to. I went to Cori already, tomorrow I will be going to Ypsilanti for the seminar for Barix. Then over the next couple weeks I will go to Southfiled for RWLS (St. John's), Grand Rapids - MMPC (Spectrum Health) and also to Flint for Hurley Bariatrics. I was actually suprised how many there are around here. I did not expect to find that many and I am sure there are still more than the ones I am checking out. They all have web sites, I just put them into a search to find them when people on here mentioned them to me. Everyone here is great and have been very helpful to me. Good luck on your journey. Hopefully before long we will both be on the losing side. Shawn 292