Approved 2 Months Ago- Still No Word From My Surgeon

I guess frustrated would be a good word for the way I feel during this "process" that seems to be avoiding "progress."

I have been at this for a year now. Making appointments, peddling, going testing etc. I swear my surgeon's secretary, whom I haven't met, hates me. ha ha. I have called to touch base and I always feel as though I am rushed off the phone, as I if I am a bother. I own a business where I deal with people calling all day and so I am considerate of the secretary's time and patience because I am sure that I am not the only one calling. I completed my psych evaluation and nutritional counseling back in September and was given clearance to submit to insurance, but it wasn't until November that the secretary submitted. I gave it a few weeks and checked in with my insurance company to check the status and they kept telling me that nothing had been submitted. Finally, after about a month of wondering and getting blown off by the surgeons secretary, my primary care doctor called on my behalf. The secretary said that she had already submitted it and magically that day it was received by my insurance company. They approved within 2 days! Exciting, right? I only was able to find out about the approval by calling the insurance company myself. I received nothing, still to this day, since November, from my surgeon's office. 

I am so frustrated and discouraged. Not to mention, I am a little bit nervous to move forward with this office because I literally have never once been contacted by them in any way. I always have to call and I feel as though I am being a bother, but if I don't call every couple of months, my paperwork isn't process and my chart is neglected. This is my health and a pretty important surgery and the staff should be considerate of this. Again, I realize they probably deal with annoying people who pester them about approvals etc, but honestly, I know better than to behave in a way  that would pressure a professional and I am so so considerate and grateful when I speak to the staff. I know the workload must be of high volume, but there is a complete lack of communication on the office's behalf.

Since learning that I was approved in November, I decided to assume the appointed role and I have stayed quiet on the back burner. Still no word and it is January! Now I am feeling curious, since it has been 2 months since approval, but I am uncomfortable calling for obvious reasons. There is another local surgeon's office hosting a seminar January 14th. I will go to this just to start the ball rolling in the event that I feel the need to switch offices.

Am I being ridiculous?

I think you showed a lot of patience.  I know i would be in their office in person probably a week not more that 3 weeks after approval to see what is going on and to see them face to face. 

Why did you choose that practice? Is the doc the one with a lot of experiance and that's why they are so busy? 

I would go for a free seminar in the other practice, but make sure you choose the best doc, not a practice that are not too busy because they are not as good. 

At the same time - you may need some follow up after the surgery. You need to make sure that you will get as much support and attention as you need. 

I had RNY over 6 years ago, and to this day - my doc and his practice treat me as i and my issues are very important to them.  I don't need them often, but when i do - i get a lot of support.  (I have some long term issuses post op RNY). 

I'm not sure you need to go all the way back to the seminar stage!  I would call the new doctors office. At one point, I was considering switching doctors to get scheduled sooner (insurance, hospital, doctor scheduling conflicts) and the second office requested all my paperwork and got the ball rolling. In the end, it would have taken me a bit longer to get surgery, so I stuck with my first doctors group. The second doctors primary hospital was the one my insurance covered, first doc used another, yada yada. You can request all your records, tests etc be sent to the new doc. I'm betting the second surgeons office can help you!!!  Good luck!!

And you've been much nicer than I'm afraid I'd have been. There is no excuse for it to take them so long. 

My surgeon's support staff was the same way. I had just finished all my pre-op stuff and was trying to make an appointment with the surgeon. They told me a date 2 months later. I asked for my records and said I was switching surgeons. Magically they fit me in the next day.

If he is a great surgeon, I would go in person to make the appointment. If the surgeon is not that great, I would be looking for a new surgeon. Good luck!!

This is unacceptable.  I would move on....

I think you have been VERY patient. I work in Human Services and we are always very busy but we have a 24 hour call back procedure that must be adhered to. I would call the office and ask that the surgeon call you. When they ask why, I would say that you have confidential information to discuss and that you expect your message to be passed along. Expect to get some push back but stick to your script and be firm.  Also, if you are able to communicate via email with the surgeon I would follow up that way as well after leaving the phone message. When (and if) you get to talk to the surgeon I would lay out all your concerns and tell them you are considering switching practices as you are concerned about follow up care. I would indicate that the way the front office staff has handled things is unacceptable. Then, depending on the surgeon's response, I would make my decision whether to switch or not. There are times when clients/families have gone over my head with a complaint about one of my staff (which is certainly their right) however, it makes me wish I had known so I could have corrected the problem. If the surgeon doesn't know these issues are occurring then, how can they be corrected? They are trusting their staff to do their jobs and it is hard to discern if they are not unless information is shared with them. If you still get no where, I would definitely seek a new practice. The new practice should be able to get all your records so you don't have to repeat stuff. Post op you are going to need someone who will be responsive and is invested in your success as you are. Good luck!

You aren't being ridiculous. Switch docs. You are your own best advocate and you shouldn't apologize for that.

I won a hard fought battle with insurance and my original choice of surgeon's office was less-than-zero help with the appeal. They gave me misinformation each step of the way. The final straw came when I had my approval letter in hand from the employer that provided healthcare coverage. I called the doc's office, only to be told they needed in INSURANCE letter and that they couldn't accept what I had. They totally didn't understand that the employer dictates what the insurance does, not the other way around. From that point on, I couldn't get them to return calls. I thought to myself, why am I fighting so hard to give them my money? This is nuts. I also realized that I would have to have a long term relationship with these people and if I was not getting good service beforehand, I wasn't confident I could get good service afterward. So I switched. I emailed my second choice doc that night, had an email response the next morning, an appointment 2 days later where we scheduled the surgery for a couple of weeks out. Just that easy, just that quickly.

I did call doc #1's office back to let them know they were fired. I spoke to the office manager, who was aghast at what had happened to me. Apparently this was a problem they had been working on fixing for some time and she was very apologetic when she realized that the problem was not, in fact, fixed.

Good luck and please stay strong. Getting my approval transferred was a simple thing.

Laurie

I think it's a good idea to check out the other surgeon.  You are going to need that team as you prepare for surgery and after.  If they are dropping the ball now, they will drop it later. 

The surgeon's office has had more than enough time to call you and let you know that your surgery was approved! With the problems you describe with even getting your paperwork submitted, if it were me I would go ahead and move forward with using another surgeon unless there is a compelling professional reason to use the original surgeon.

When/if you call the original surgeon's office to have your records transferred to the new surgeon's office, be sure to ask for the office manager and let her/him know WHY you are switching surgeons. They cannot correct a problem they don't know about (but I wouldn't trust them to correct it right away and so would still use the other surgeon).

Lora