vsg surgeons in massachusetts ?

 I see newton wellsley has some... any others... My husband has been recommended for surgery but NEEDS advil in his life... Had dual knee replacement a few years back... SO we will be trying for the sleeve... 
I had my RNY 3 years ago ... guess this is getting contagious...the sad thing i s at first he lost as much weight as idid... but as it's back... sooooo grateful for my rny... hope we can set him up too.. 

Any local VSG ers... your experience is welcomed!

Hi! I know Daniel Jones at Beth Israel does the Sleeve. Lynn Banded (now Sleeved LOL) had her sleeve there ... she should be along shortly to give you great advice

Dr.Pecquex at St. Elizabeths in Brighton also performs them, the tricky thing is getting insurance to cover the sleeve, but if your husband has a medical need for the anvil he has a shot and the surgeons petition the insurance company stating medical need. Call Susie at the center for weight control at St.E's and I'm sure she would be happy to help.

 Great... thanks , it has been hard to find out.... these doctors should register with OH!   Now i got to find out with Blue cross... but I am not too worried... they have been fantastic in most cases....Wish us luck and will be around!   hugs!

Hey Suz - I've had BCBS of New England for about 15+ years now and they've been great thru all sorts of situations.  In 2007 they approved my insurance request for coverage for a LapBand within days!    7 months after I got my band it slipped and was removed immediately.   

-There are "Abdominal Surgeons" at Brigham&Womens and Tufts NEMEC that perform the Sleeve Gastrectomy but NOT for bariatric measure. The only instances I've heard of(that BCBS has covered) are treatment for stomach cancer and trauma situations.... they're not specifically performed for weight loss.

I'm pre-op for revision to RNY but the Tufts surgeon I've been working with says she'd really like to attempt to work with BCBS for VSG coverage so I'm NOT giving up just yet!!!!

They stick to their policy #379 which lists procedures that are not covered including the following:  "Sleeve gastrectomy, either as stand alone procedure or as one step in a staged procedure, since it is considered investigational as a treatment for morbid obesity"  I received the denial letter in days but they did say they'd approve the gold standard RNY.

I've been promised my surgery date by the end of next week (for January 2011) I'll letcha know how I make out with coverage!

There aren't may docs that have done a lot of vsg's in MA because the insurance approvals just started coming through. Dr. Jones at BIDMC did mine 3 months ago - I was a revision from LapBand whi*****reases the risks - I was his 6th or 7th sleeve.

The thing to keep in mind with the sleeve is that surgically is it simple. Much less complicated than the lap RNY, so if your doctor is great at lap RNY then VSG should be a breeze for him.

Good luck. Let me know if you have any questions.

 Thanks Lynne,  We are going to his info session tonight!  WIsh us luck?  by the way if you don't mind did your insurance help or hinder any of it all? 

I met all the criteria for my insurance and had zero problems - 5 hour surgery and 5 days in the hospital (I was a reoperation from the Lap Band) and my total out of pocket is going to be around $1200.00.  I was very happy with Cigna!

I'm also a Dr Jones VSG hopeful!  I had an early surgery date and just got a new "investigational" denial letter from my insurance.  So, preparing to appeal. The BIDMC program is excellent!

 Will pray for us both!!!!!