How long from start to finish?

My insurance only has the requirement of a psych appointment and a nutrition appointment. The hospital requires a group education seminar (going over what will happen after surgery).

My 1st appointment was a group information session followed by a individual meeting with the doctor. I had this on January 7, 2015. I was able to get the group information seesion, and the psych and nutrition appointments done in two weeks and they already have insurance authorization. On Monday I have an EGD (doctor requirement) and then surgery will be scheduled. It would have happened quicker, but my insurance doesn't have their outpatient center as in-network, so my EGD had to happen at the hospital which takes longer to schedule.

So, if things had worked out better I could have had surgery in March, but now its looking like April.

Took me forever! At least it seemed like it.

I think about 4 months, but I bugged the you know what outta everybody from the insurance company, to the surgeon, to the shrink, anybody that slowed down the process got a daily call from me. Lol

Finally they got sick of hearing my voice and approved me. Set me up for to weeks later. That two weeks was a loooong two weeks.

Stay on em, call em every day, bug the $#!% out of em. I don't know if really sped things u*****t, but I felt better. Lol

Its all worth it now, I love my sleeve!

Rod

Luckily I work at the hospital so I email her often asking if there are cancellations for my initial appointment.  :)

I started my journey in January 2014 and had my surgery in September 2014. It took a while for me (mostly because of my health problems and age) but it was so worth the wait!

To answer your question-- I went to my surgeon's info seminar in the last week of August, had my first appointment in early September, and had surgery on December 10. The longest wait was 3 months, since my insurance required 3 months' supervised diet.

A lot of things in the timeline can be done at the same time; you'll usually just need everything done by the time everything is submitted to the insurance company. My surgeon had a checklist of everything I needed-- psych clearance, nutritionist visit, sleep study, etc.-- and as long as it was all done before my file was submitted to insurance, it was just fine.

This is definitely a good question for your surgeon. The insurance coordinator at the office is a great resource, too, since s/he will often know what each company requires. If in doubt, call the phone number on the back of your insurance card.