Did you have Fee's or program costs for pre-op diet?

Just curious if it is the norm to have a specific purchased plan/pre-op diet that your surgeon requires you to adhere to. My surgeon required a non refundable $300 pre-op diet kit to be purchased at the second appointment before surgery was even approved by insurance. Is this normal? 

I'm pretty new around here, and recently post op, but I have come to discover through reading a ton of discussion threads that there are many, many different pre op diets. Some have to be purchased. Some, like mine, were just full liquids. Some can eat an actual meal during the pre op diet. There is no one way that is the right way. 

Good luck on your journey! 

I can't answer if it's "normal" or not, but I did not have this.

If you can imagine it, we've seen it. Yes, some docs require you to buy protein shakes from them. Some require you to buy vitamins from them as well. Unless they allow you to do something different, you either have to go along -- if you want them to do your surgery -- or go elsewhere.

Other programs, like mine, don't make you purchase supplies, but charge a "program fee." Mine was $500, and wasn't covered by insurance. It included nutrition classes, lifetime monthly support groups for before and after surgery, and lifetime visits/emails with nutritionists. It could be a real bargain for those that use it. But it seems like 99% of people don't use it, at all.

I suppose if my options were pay or no surgery I would shut up and pay it gladly. Just was curious what the norm was, no I see there doesn't seem to be one.

Sad to say that bariatric surgery is a cash cow and some practices will milk whatever they can from their patients.  Play the game, get your surgery and then give them the heave-ho.

I had mine in the olden days when I was never asked to pay even a co-pay or deductible and actually used to get freebies and samples at surgeon visits.  I also ALWAYS saw my surgeon, not a nurse or NP or PA ...   from the first appointment I ever had

My particular surgeon/program doesn't require purchase of their specific plan, but they do give an outline of what you need to intake for the 2-3 weeks prior to surgery.  For example, my plan consists of 5 RTD protein "shakes" per day, like the GNC lean shakes, as well as a small salad with 3oz protein for lunch, and 3-5oz of protein for dinner with a vegetable. 

They did also require a 4 week "training" session, at the cost of $100, which isn't covered by insurance.  But that's all.

I'd definitely shop around.  I went to one program where they required people to be on a liquid diet two weeks before surgery, then several weeks afterwards.

The surgeon I ended up having do my surgery, only required one day of liquid diet before the surgery and a couple of weeks after. They offered us to purchase their protein shakes and vitamins, but it was not a requirement.  I get my protein shakes from GNC and I was taking a good multivitamin for years before the surgery. I'm back to taking my multivitamin now and I'm nearly 5 weeks out. 

Sounds like you're group is making mega bucks on the products sales.  I pay around $60 for the protein shakes every 3 weeks, so I'm averaging $20 a week for necessary nutrients. 

Unfortunately, some surgeons do require this as part of their program and it is something that your insurance generally will not cover.  Also, it isn't uncommon for  some surgeons ask the patient to lose a percentage of weight prior to the surgery and do not mandate any purchases through their office, but do offer plans such as Optifast, etc.

Were you aware of that requirement prior to scheduling your consult or was that something they did not communicate until that second appt?

Sadly, it's becoming more and more common... and the $$$ varies tremendously from program to program and covers the non physician services... so behavioral counseling/psych eval, pre-op diet req, dietitian visit(s) and sometimes protein/shakes/vitamins which are not covered by most insurance... get what you are getting for your $$ in writing because that varies tremendously too.

Soapbox: I get that people need to be paid for performing a service but it's crummy IMHO that insurance doesn't cover all related to surgery costs when surgery is deemed medically necessary and approved. It's not done with any other chronic disease besides obesity. Grrr.