Looking for other pt of Flanagans

I'm trying to find out from other pts of Flanagans, did your insurances pay the whole amount? If not did Flanagan make you pay the balance between what he charged and what they paid?

Hi Joe! Dr. Flanagan is my surgeon. I did have to pay Dr. Flanagan's office the differnce between his charge and the what the insurance will pay him, which was about $1000. I had to pay this the day before my surgery. Good Luck, Joe! -Mary

Hi Joe,I'm not a pt of Flanagans,but I know a friend who is and regrets it and yes,she did have to pay the what the ins did'nt. How far are you into the process of wls with Flanagan? Have you considered the wls program at OHSU? Also,have you gotten all the info fron Flanagans office on what to expect after surgery with him? I had lap gastric bypass in May of this year at OHSU and when surgery was over and I woke up all I had was a foley cathader in and oxygen on. I went to a support group meeting in Eugene which was run by Flanagens office and was shocked! His pts were talking about their hospital stays and they wake up with JP drain tubes,feeding tubes,foley cathether. You go home with the feeding tube!! I could'nt beleive it.. I was eating pureed soup in the hosiptal. Very little soup,but at least I could eat. I've lost 60 lbs in 9 weeks. I have 6, 1 in*****isions on my tummy from the Laperscopic g bypass. I had Dr. O'Rourke at OHSU up in Portland. If you would like more info on this program I have the # you can call to attend a info meeting with a doctor and ask all the questions you want. Portland may be a 2 hour drive,but it was well worth it to me. I work at a local hosptial here and I take of pts who have JP's and feeding tubes and on top of that a major surgery! I hope you do not think of me as being rude to write you this,I just hope that you have considered your options. I just want you to be informed. Why go thru all the crap that Flanagan puts you thru when you don't have to? I have probaly said to much as I usally do,I just feel very strongly about this issue. Good luck to you on what ever you decide. Jeanne

Flanagan would not take my insurance anymore,,in fact his office staff said that he was phasing out insurance... so I went to Portland at OHSU.. my Doctor will be Dr Deveney... I have heard too many things about Flanagan.. though I have been told by most people that he is a wonderful surgeon..In fact I have.. so far not been told otherwise.. as a surgeon he is great... but he yells at his patients.. and gets weird when then have not paid him the up front money he wants.. a lot pf people that have told me this have said they think it is cause he is getting ready to retire.. All in all I am glad I have to drive the 2 hours to portland to get ready for my surgery... by the way in case you could not tell I am also in the Eugene Area

I'm sorry to hear that you have all had such dissapointing experiences with Dr. Flanagan's staff. I suggest if you are looking for warm fuzzies and a hard sell on WLS, then look elsewhere. Dr. Flanagan has not only been practicing bariatric surgery exclusively (meaning that is ALL he has done) for the better part of the last 30 years, but he has literally been crusading within the American medical establishment for the general acceptance of bariatric surgery as a treatment for obesity. His personal statistics are STELLAR. He has perfomred THOUSANDS of these surgeries and his mortality rate among the morbidly obese is ZERO. He is virtually at the top of his field. If you are fortunate enough to have the opportunity to even talk about this procedure with a man such as Dr. Flanagan it will be well worth any unpleasentries that you have to suffer through with his staff. Joe, you will find a page of testamonies from Dr. Flanagan's patients and their experience on this web site. I would encourage you to consider the overwhelmingly positive expereinces you will find among those testamonies. Dr. Flanagan is definitely not the kind of surgeon that will coddle and pet his patients. He is very forthright about the gravity of the decision to have weight loss surgery. He will soon be retiring and I count myself among the very fortunate to have him as my surgeon in this amazing experience. I took a great deal of initiative in the entire process of getting insurance approval and getting my appointments and surgery date scheduled. In my opinion, anyone who does not, or is not willing to take this kind of initiative will find all kinds of stuff to complain about regarding the process. I must say, it bothers me a great deal to hear so much negativity about Dr. Flanagan from folks who are not his patients. Again, I encourage you to seek out those who are Dr. Flanagan's patients. You should be able to find plenty at this site. Feel free to email me if you have any questions about insurance process, or anything at all. I can give you an honest rundown, first hand, of what to expect with Dr. Flanagan and his staff. Take Care! -Mary P

I have had the surgery with Flanagan, what I'm concerned about is that I just heard that my insurance doesn't pay nearly the full amount, he is listed as a preferred provider with them but Flanagan says that he is preferred with no one. I do have experience with his office over financial stuff, and though he is a brilliant surgeon, he is also money hungry. This is the first that I had heard that my insurance shorts him. I am concerned because I can't afford to pay the difference between the couple grand they pay and the 15 grand he charged. I was going by what my insurance said about max out of pocket for the year and expecting my out of pocket to only be around 2,500. Granted I appreciate the second chance on life that he has given me, but that doesn't give him the right to price gouge when other Doctors don't do this.

Ginger, I too am in the same boat as you, I am post op with Flanagan, and afraid that my insurance company will "short" him. I am single with an average income and can't afford more then what I was lead to believe my portion would be (1,500). I have found him to be odd behaving since my surgery- at my follow up's he acts like its almost an inconvience to have to take time for the consults to see me. No I'm not looking for the touchy feely type of treatment, but I do expect him to be professional act like a Doctor. His nurse bless her soul acts more like a doctor then he does at my follow-ups.

I will acknowledge that Flanagan is a brillant surgeon.. but there is more to being a Doctor.... treating the patients badly.. feeling that he has the right to yell at his patients because they are not losing fast enough.. and price gouging are wrong.. and there is no way that anyone can convince me that it is right.. I realize that many surgeons have terrible bedside manners.. but this is ridiculous.... thank heavens though he is a brillant surgeon.. because he has performed the surgery on dear friends of mine.. but at least one of those patients has a verdy fragile spirit.. I just hope his attitude does no cru**** and as to some of the other patients that in this place that have flanagan and find their after care wanting.. I am sooooo sorry for them...cause that is just sooooo wrong.. for the record.. my Psycologist says that most surgeons are sociopaths.. and you know he may be right..

Hi Joe, $1500 was about what my portion was, but I had to pay it before the surgery. I had already found out from my insurance what they would pay so I knew this would be my portion. I have had three post-op visits with Dr. Flanagan. He isn't as attentive as he was at my pre-op appointments, but that kind of makes sense to me. I can say, though, that I have made a ridiculous amount of calls to his office as every little pain and oddity about my body freaks me out now! If he wasn't available at the time, he always returned my calls or Denise, his nurse, would call back after consulting with him. Dr. Flanagan is known for his odd bed-side manner (some would say no bed-side manner), so I sort of expected it that as well. I hope it all works out for you, and I apoligize for making your simple question a huge drama. Take Care! -Mary

Price gouging, indeed. Dr. Flanagan practices privately. I know of no other surgeon that does this. I think you have been misinformed somewhere along the way. Dr. Flanagan's fee for the surgery is well below $8000. I'm not sure where you are getting your information. Because Dr. Flanagan is on your insurance company's perferred provider list doesn't mean that he has any sort of "deal" with your insurance company. Because he practices privately, he pays his own malpractice insurance, which makes it way more expensive for him to practive than surgeons that are affiliated with insurance companies. Dr. Flanagan is not a one-stop-shop and the insurance process is way more complicated than just flashing your card and paying your co-pay. Dr. Flanagan has a surgeon's fee, Denise (the surgical nurse) has a fee, the anesthesiologist has a fee, the lab has a fee, and the hospital has a fee. My hospital stay wasn't even $15,000. All these separate entities will bill your insurance seperately. If I were you, I would get the procedure number for the surgery Dr. Flanaga performed, call your insurance agency and ask them what they pay surgeon's for that fee. The insurance process is way more complicated than it should be, but we can still be very involved. I took my insurance process into my own hands and I know way more about how my inusrance works and what they'll pay than anyone in Dr. Flanagan's office. In my opinion, this is how everyone should approach the process. I will never leave the matter of nearly $30,000 in anyone elses hands. I would suggest that we all take a little responsibility and stop acting like victims. Granted, there are some people that do get screwed, but it's not Dr. Flanagan that is screwing anyone.