BCBS/PEBB Question for Anyone Who May Know...

Am having a difficult time elliciting information out of Blue Cross Blue Shield - PEBB r/t RNY gastric bypass surgery...Curious to know if anyone in a rural area has used an outside psychologist and nutritionist that is not at OHSU or Bend???  Also, anyone else had difficulty getting straight forward answers out of this company??

I was able to use a psychologist from the Samaritan Health System in Corvallis.  I think they have nutritionists there. 

Thank you!  I will have to call, yet again, in the AM...

I had to go to Bend for my psych evaluation.  OHSU (where I had my surgery) was backed up for months, but I could go to a preferred surgery center and see their psychologist and still have it count.  I didn't have any trouble getting information from BC/BS.  I just called them and they answered my questions.

I also double-checked with OHSU to find out what they would accept.

Linda

Hi!  Thanks for the info.  From talking to the ladies in the clinic this morning, it sounds like everything can be done in one appt and they are about 4-6 weeks out, so thats good.  Also, did you have a good experience at OHSU?  I had a good friend who said the surgeon was fabulous there (Dr Deveney), however, the nurses were not terrific (maybe thats cause we are nurses, so we expect something more, I dont know) but she did say they kept bringing her full meals and expecting her to eat them and lecturing her until one read the chart and realized she could only have liquid.  Thats an honest error w/being busy...but curious on your experience there...

 My surgeon was fabulous.  I had Dr. O'Rourke.  OHSU hospital though, I would have to say just plain sucks.  Make sure you have someone with you as much as possible while you're in there.  The nurses do not respond to the call button.  They have a nurses station and whoever answers the calls there waits until a nurse walks by to tell them that you need help.  You get more help from the CNAs.  You can read my profile to see what my experience was at OHSU.  It was not good.  Unfortunately, I had to go back there in November for a three-level spinal fusion.  Once again, great surgeon, but major sucky experience with the nursing staff.  I ended up having to have two surgeries and the second one I woke up screaming from the pain.  The nurse wouldn't give me more pain medicine and ended up shutting off my light and closing the door because she didn't want to hear me scream (I was in MAJOR pain, having been slit open from the top of my pubic bone to just below my left ribcage).  If I can help it, I will never go back to that hell-hole.

Linda

Dr. Deveney is a very good surgeon and I am pleased with his surgical skills.  He did visit me a couple of times for a very brief time while I was in the hospital.  One time he visited me in his surgical garb and white jacket, including his "shower cap", because he was between operations.

I had good nursing care in the general surgery unit while at the hospital last year.  I wouldn't say that the nursing care was excellent or outstanding.  The nurses were slow to answer my calls at times, but apparently that is par for any hospital that is short-staffed and the unit nearly full.  One CNA had to work a double shift because another one was unavailable and her second shift would have been short-staffed.  Luckily, my room was right across from the nurses' station, close to the office assistant who answers the phones for the unit.  The nurses washed their hands every time they came in my room and wore gloves every time they touched my person, IV machine, my catheter and drain, or the bucket where I peed into.  Most of the nurses treated me very well, altho I was very assertive at times.

The dietary department was another story, especially that in-patient NUT who totally and completely annoyed me for two straight mornings.  The department did not allow me to select my meal from the full liquids menu like any other patient on general or modified diets.  Plus, I had a couple of missed meals that I had to notify the nurses.  And the nurses had to call for a tray each time, and the food service aide delivered the tray to me albeit late.

Linda may have been in a different unit from the general surgery one when she had her spinal operations, so the problems she experienced would not have applied to the general surgery unit at all.  It was very unfortunate that she experienced those problems and I hope she complained to the patient advocacy department at OHSU.

I had a procedure done at the waterfront building of OHSU yesterday and received very good care from the nurse at the short-stay unit on the same floor as the bariatric clinic.  The GI doctor, her assistant, and nurse anesthetist (all women) all treated me very well in the procedure room.  I tolerated that procedure very well too.

Awesome!  Thank you.

I just had my surgery RNY at OHSU and my insurance was BCBS/PEBB.  They strictly told me that I had to use their approved people, even if it meant to travel to Portland or Bend.  They are really limited and it took me almost a year to get through their hoops.  If you're not getting a straight answer I would not delay in setting up appointments and get them done.  OHSU was great about coordinating all of my appt's on the same day and one right after another.  They're been doing this for a while and I met several people who were having to travel from locations hours away from Portland in order to participate in the Bariatric program.
Good luck!