Start to Finish Process Tufts-NEMC; Lahey; Newton Wellesley

Dear Ones,

I'm going to info sessions starting next week and would really appreciate info about :


- steps required by hospital

- time between each step

- organization (e.g., is the psych, nut, etc. all done in one day?)

- user friendliness!

My insurance does not have the 6 month "prove yourself" period.

Thanks - I'm a bit OCDish about this! 

I went to NWH & this was my timeline:
I submitted online information request January 15th. They called me that week, told me about the information session Jan 24th (I think) that I had to attend, but they also scheduled my pre-op appointment while on the phone, so before I went to the required meeting.
They started me right away on calcium & a multivitamin.

Feb 6th I had my pre-op visit. Long visit- psych eval, meeting with the nutritionist & surgeon, bloodwork, etc. I think I was there for 5 hours or so.
They scheduled me for a 4 week follow up visit.
I was required to attend the support group meetings in the interim, the 0-6 month, 1+ year, and I may have attended one or two more. (I like them)
They also require a sleep study which was done Feb 25th at the hospital. End of that week I got my surgery date of April 1.
I went in March 7th for my follow up. That's when I was really ready to go.
That's when they scheduled me for my gall bladder ultrasound, pre-op testing & the meeting in the office about the blended diet you're on right after surgery.
April 1st had my surgery, April 4th went home.
No pain, no complications... all went very well.

Couple things:
I knew my insurance policy backwards & forwards and what they require. I made sure I had every single thing my insurance company would need to approve me, and I brought that to my first visit. My insurance approval came through in less than a week.

As I have stated many times and will continue to do so, I would recommend NWH to anyone. They really work as a cohesive team there & they are extraordinarily user friendly. There is no question I've had that they didn't answer immediately, they have never made me feel stupid about asking a question- in fact the only thing they have said is that they wished I called sooner when I did have one small issue a few months out.
I'm going on a year out, I still go to support group meetings at least once a month & I really, really feel that this hospital is very engaged in my long term success. I STILL get calls from one of the nurses in the office just to check on me, and when I am in for my follow ups, they always comment on how great it is that I go to so many meetings.

I could not have been more pleased with my experience, the surgeons & support staff are wonderful. And less than 2 months start to finish? I'll take it!

Newton Wellesley.

Went to info session in April.
Appointment with Surgeon in May (saw their NUT and their PSYCH on same day - plan for 5 hours).  You also do your initial bloodwork
Appointment with Surgeon again in June (literally about 4-5 weeks later).  short visit, was asked to bring my boyfriend.  I think they like to see you have support.  He was ready to book my surgery then  (I had the 6 month waiting period)
They submitted my info to my insurance the DAY i finished my program and got acceptance w/in two weeks.
My surgery was booked 5 weeks out from the day i was approved.  In those 5 weeks I had to go to a blended food class and pre-surgery testing.

So from my first appointment to surgery (minus waiting game with insurance program) it was 9 weeks.

LOVED that they had NUT and PSYCH on staff.  
VERY friendly and helpful administrative staff.  Always returned my calls.
GREAT support group meetings

 

  I give them the thumbs up.  I particularly LOVE LOVE LOVE my surgeon, Dr. Gazmuri.
 
 

Let me start with your ending questions (I went to Tufts). I found Tufts to be very easy to manage - the office staff are great and all the doctors are very friendly (at least the ones I dealt with.) They will try to schedule multiple appointments on the same day for you so you don't have to come into Boston as much. I seem to recall that we had to try to lose a certain percentage of weight (5%? 10%?) pre-op, but it's primarily a good-faith effort and as long as you accomplish something and take the new behavior changes seriously I don't think they would make you wait.

Here's the list of all the stuff I did pre-surgery.  It took me almost exactly 6 months. It's important to note that Dr. Pino, the exercise physiologist, isn't there anymore ( ) - I am not sure what they're doing for that component of the program.

03/26/07 - Psych. Consult w/ Dr. Kaplan
04/02/07 - Open Lap-Band Meeting and New Patient Orientation
04/30/07 - Behavior Change Group #1
05/01/07 - Medical Consult w/ Dr. Rollinson
05/07/07 - Behavior Change Group #2
05/14/07 - Behavior Change Group #3
05/21/07 - Behavior Change Group #4
05/29/07 - Exercise Physiology Consult w/ Dr. Pino
06/04/07 - Behavior Change Group #5
06/06/07 - Psych. Follow-up w/ Dr. Kaplan
06/11/07 - Behavior Change Group #6
06/18/07 - Nutritional Consult w/ Kerri, pick up exercise prescription
06/20/07 - Surgical Consult w/ Dr. Tarnoff
06/25/07 - Medical Follow-up w/ Ami
08/07/07 - Sleep Study
08/20/07 - Exercise Follow-up w/ Dr. Pino
08/30/07 - Nutritional Follow-up w/ Kerri
09/07/07 - Pre-op Testing
09/19/07 - Psych. Follow-up (#2) w/ Dr. Kaplan
09/24/07 - The BIG DAY

Thanks everyone!

Nekton64 - would love to PM you, but you've made your profile private.  Is there any way I can get tin touch?  Thanks!

B.

You can use the "contact" button below anyone's post to contact them :)

Martha