St. Vincent's/Dr. Ben-Meir questions

Hey everyone!! I am fairly new to this board... I had a few questions for those that have been to the Cleveland Center for Bariatric Surgery with Dr. Aviv Ben-Meir: 1). How long after insurance approval did you have your surgery? 2). After your initial consult with the surgeon, what other tests/eval. did you have to get? I have my consult with Dr. Ben-Meir on August 5th...it just got moved from July 29th I am lucky to have UHC Select Plus POS (through SBC Ameritech) and it sounds like they are really easy to get approved through. I am trying to plan a trip to California to see my sister, and wasn't sure how fast the process was....can you tell I am anxious??? Thanks in advance for your help!!! Joni

Hi Joni, I have Qualchoice Insurance and I was approved within a day or two from submitting all the paperwork. It was fast. It is the legwork of getting everything together that may take some time. Here is a breakdown of the timeline as close as I can put together from my little datebook: May 2 - attended seminar May 3 - called insurance company - was given names of psychologists they approved of and then called and made appt with psychologist. May 9 - initial visit with psych. dr. May 18 - Dr. appt with Dr. Ben-Meir. May 24 - 2nd visit with psych dr. May 26 - Dr. appt with PCP - was given referral for sleep study. June 2 - Upper GI June 15 - Sleep Study June 17 - Pre Admit Testing July 14 - Surgery Sometime between June 17th and July 14th I also had to get an echocardiogram, see a cardiologist and pick up a CPAP machine for sleep apnea. But all in all that is about the timeframe from beginning to now. Good Luck!! LeAnn