Dr. Van Wagner

Hi all,
 I am new to the board and am in the beginning stages of making all of my appointments with my PCP and Psych eval, and education, hoping and praying for an approval for a band.
 I am wondering if anyone has used Dr. Van Wagner in St. Louis and if anyone knows if he is still affiliated with St. Alexius. I see that he has Heart of America Bariatrics and he is still featured on St. Alexius's web site. Any info. on St Alexius would be appreciated as it is one of the places that my insurance co. works with.

Sorry, dont know a thing about that hospital or dr, I had my surgery at DePaul in St Louis...will your insurance not let you use Dr Edwards here in Spfld??? Mine wouldnt!
Just wanted to welcome you to the board and invite you to hop on in at anytime. Also inviting you to support group meetings around here. Circle of friends meets once a month and it is a great group to help you find your way thru this maze of information. Watch for posts about it. We welcome pre-ops of both the band and RNY surgeries...(or any other) Just popping in to say HI and welcome to a newbie! Good luck on your journey...
Sugar

Thanks for the welcome. To maximize my benefit i will need to travel to St. Louis for the procedure. I am really okay with that as I am a member of the healthcare community in Springfield and have been for many years. I would rather travel a short distance to be an anonymous patient.
 I am very interested in the support group and appreciate the info.
Thanks!!

Hi, nice to meet you.  I had gastric bypass with Dr. Wagner at St. Alexius Hospital in February.   He is still affiliated with New Start, although it seems to me he doesn't work so closely with them anymore.   His office is not with the other docs, but in a different location in south St. Louis.  And he nor his office staff have really stressed to me much about the New Start program follow-up stuff.   New Start sends me fliers in the mail about when the support groups and nutrition classes meet, etc..   However, since you are in Springfield, that probably won't make a difference.   I have found it fairly easy to get help from the nutritionists at New Start by phone and/or email.   As far as Dr. Wagner goes, I think he's an excellent surgeon, but a very quiet person.   I have no complaints really.   St. Alexius hospital was fine as well.   I hope this helps.  Good luck!

I too had surgery with Dr. Wagner, about 2 weeks before Amanda.  I agree with everything she says!
I think one of the benefits of going with him is that I was able to get scheduled very quickly, compared to DePaul.  I am a person who wants instant gratificiation so that was nice for me!
Welcome to the board!!!!

Thank you all for the info. I appreciate it.

I had surgery with Dr. Wagner also.  I agree with what Amanda and Renee said.  He is affiliated with St. Alexius and New Start in that he does his surgeries out of St. Alexius and that all of the benefits of the program are available to you.  But otherwise, he is basically on his own.  If you have a problem you see him, not another doc or nurse practicioner or phys. asst.  This is one of the main reasons I chose him.  Because I was self pay and I didn't want to have to see 2 or 3 doctors if I had a problem and incur fees from all of them.  He is on his own but he has a great office staff.

The three of us all had RNY so your experience may be a little different with the band.  I believe he also does the bands out of Webster Grove Surgery Center in St. Louis.

Julie

Thanks Julie,
 In my research i see that he also has Heart of America Bariatrics so i was a little confused if maybe he had left New Start and gone out on his own and that they had just not updated the website yet.
 So if you qualify for an outpatient band procedure, which I may as I don't really have many risk factors, then my surgery  will be done in a different location, at a free standing surgery center? Right??

I think that is probably the case.  Of course I'm sure it would depend on your insurance.  But when I originally went to the educational seminar I was looking at the lap band and he said the place we were at (Webster Groves Surgery Center) was one of the places he does the band.

Good luck to you.