Center of Excellance

What does that mean? I went to the orientation in Portland and submitted my application for the lap-band. How long is the wait before hearing from someone?

Oh - I read this second - see you are looking into the band. I don't have any experience with insurance to help you with though. Except maybe relating the feeling of being told "no." ;)

I went to Good Samaritans Orientation in March of 06. Good Sams Program is a center of excellence. What I understand it to mean is that they have gone through all the approvals to become one. What is important is some insurances like Blue Cross Blue Shield if Bariatric Surgery is in your plan will only pay for the procedure if it's being done in a center of excellence. At my orientation there were a few people there starting all over...they had surgery scheduled at OHSU that week only to find out their insurance carriers were backing out at the last minute because OHSU was not certified. They now were going through the approval process at Good Sam. As far as your question about waiting to hear from someone. I finally contacted Obesity Clinic at Good Sam because I felt 6 weeks was long enough without hearing from them. They did return my call and set my first round of appointments up for May 9th and 11th. I had quite a few stumbling blocks along the way (i.e. 2 sleep studies, heart stress test, colonoscopy for various reasons) which took up time. I just had my surgery last Thursday. Exactly 6 mos from the date of orientation. Sooo. give your clinic a call, don't wait for them to call you.

Thank you. I'll do that.