Fresno vs San Jose?
Hello! I recently had an issue with my insurance being absolutely idiotic. The surgeon I chose had me go through all of the steps, and they submitted my paperwork for DS surgery at Memorial Medical Center in Modesto, CA. Blue Cross came back and said "Nope. Not a center of excellence." Depending on what you look at, it is and is not.
I don't want to fight with them on that, as I was warned they were iffy on whether or not MMC was a true Bariatric Center of Excellence or not.
I'm looking for people's experiences with Saint Agnes in Fresno and Good Samaritan in San Jose and any doctor recommendations you may have for those two. I don't really know how to go about finding a doctor that practices at a particular hospital. I sought out Dr P. Coates, who I can no longer have surgery by, from family and word of mouth recommendation, so I'm hoping to win the doctor lottery one more time. :)
Other than Dr. Coates, who only started doing the DS recently, the only DS surgeon in our area is Dr. John Rabkin in San Francisco. He operates at at least 2 hospitals, so hopefully one of them would be a center of excellence - surely his office staff could answer that question for you. There is no one doing the DS at any hospital in San Jose, and unless Dr. Coates is operating at Saint Agnes in Fresno, no one there either.
I hope you are willing to make the longer drive to San Francisco. The DS is well worth the extra effort, and many people travel farther than that to get the DS. And Dr. Rabkin is one of the most experienced DS surgeons around, so that's another advantage for you.
Larra
