Dr. Trotter and Financing

I was curious as to whether anyone had Dr. Trotter out of Rapid City for thier Surgeon. I was also wondering if anyone had any tips for getting financing for Gastric Bypass. Any information would be greatly appreciated! God Bless! Megan

Dr. Trotter is no longer in Rapid City.  The only surgeon doing bariatrics in Rapid is Dr. Sufficool.  He does Open Bypass surgery and Lap Banding.  You need to call and talk to his nurse Teri Anderson.  She runs everything for him.  She works at the hospital and can give you the information you need. Dr. Sufficool did my bypass in 06.  He is wonderful at what he does.  I have been so very happy with him.  If you have any questions, I am glad to answer any that you may have.

Thank you so much for the reply. I was beginning to think no one knew who Dr. Trotter was.. So Thank you again! Dr. Sufficool, is he located at Rapid City Regional or is there another facility to locate him at? I was wondering if he does laparscopic insicions for gastric as well as offering the self pay option, because I think thats the route i'll need to take.... Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks again! Megan

Hey Megan, First let me say that I work with Sufficool and he is a wonderful man and is so very good with his patients so I think it is great if you are considering going to him!  He does not do laparoscopic Gastric Bypasses, he does them open.  He does do Laparoscopic Bandings however.  As far as payments, I am not sure.  You would have to call and talk to Terri Anderson.  If you call 719-6900 or 719-1000 you can ask them how to get ahold of her.  I am not sure what her direct number is.  The 6900 number is Sufficools office, however they do not deal with bariatric patients (they should know Terri's number however) and the other number is the hospital and they should be able to hook you up too. Good luck! Maghan

Thanks again for all your help! I haven't been told whether or not I need the laparscopic or open surgery but I think and prefer it to be the laparscopic surgery. I will get ahold of Terri Anderson within the week and see what they say about everything but as far as financing goes and everything I would like to get everything set up and figured out so my date may be atleast a year out from now, which is sad but will be well worth the wait. So I'm assuming after a consultation with Sufficool I'll be more educated and know which surgical procedure is right for me. Again thank you for all your help. I'll keep ya posted when I get things going. And thanks again! Your help is so very much appreciated! God Bless! Megan

I have also met Dr Sufficool and he really is a very caring and knowledgeable surgeon.  If you still are looking for someone to do laproscopic, you might check in Sioux Falls.  That is where some of us from western SD have gone.  I for one went to the Surgical Associates at Sioux Valley Hospital (Sanford now).  Dr Glatt did my surgery and I would highly recommend him.  As far as self pay, I'm not sure how they do that there, you would have to contact them to find that out. Good luck on your journey and we hope to hear from you again. Maryann

Thanks for your help! I'll definetly look into Sanford Hospital and see what Dr. Glatt, and request information because I do want the laparscopic... so I guess I'll have to wait and see. I'll keep ya posted as soon as new developments arise. Thanks again for all the help! God Bless Megan

Just thought I would let you know that at our WLS support group meeting last night (Monday, Feb 25th) they let us know that there will be a new bariatric surgeon joining Dr Sufficool around March 1st and it is believed that he does do laprascopic.  So, this new development sounds like it may be what you were looking for. Maryann

Well thank you so much for keeping me posted!!! So thoughtful! How exciting to hear that good news, I hope he does do Laparscopic then I wouldn't need to travel like 6-7hrs away from home and then have the surgery and travel back. I was on the BCBS website and they had done a statistics thing of how more complications arise from having open gastric bypass and that insurances are beginning to do thier own research and are beginning to approve laparscopic gastric bypass.... so who knows. I'm kind of in a dilemma because I'm under my parent's insurance because i'm in college right now and so I called the BCBS insurance provider we have and well the good news for some is that BCBS is approving laparscopic in some areas but not all. The lady told me thier are over 14,000 different Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance plans available and the bad or unfortunate news for me is that my fathers insurance is more like a self pay where the company holds out so much per hour and BCBS more or less just handles thier paper work for them because the insurance plan my parents have is for the Montana Miners Insurance.... So kinda crazy, well it is crazy so I mean I have thought about just waiting til i'm done with school, I graduate in may 08, as a health unit coordinator so i thought maybe just wait and see what insurance i have then and so who knows.. sorry about my speel.. just felt comfortable chatting lol.... Again, thanks for everything! Its greatly appreciated!!! Megan

Dr. Trotter is no back in Rapid City.  He is doing surgerys out of Health Concepts.  He does the procedures at Black hills Surgery Center.   I just went to one of his preop informational meetings tonight.