Springfield- Baystate, Coe and Munshi- My scoop.

Hi, I spent almost a year in the Baystate program only to find that my insurance does not consider it to be a full program and I switched to Mercy. I will put up what I found and see if it helps anyone. Baystate- the monthly meetings are really interesting, I learned a lot and the dietician- Judy Dowd is a gem. Although the meetings were great and count towards Baystate's requirements they do not meet the requirements of most insurances. Most insurances- including mine- now require INDIVIDUAL meetings with the dietician on a monthly basis and a chart note. My insurance would not recognise any documents or co-signatures provided by Dr. Munshi because it was 'the fox guarding the henhouse'. If you are seeing your PCP and a dietician independently of this program you will probably meet your requirements. The big exception to the insurance issue is if you have Health NE- it is owned by Baystate and has only the requirements of the surgury program- the 3 goup meetings, psych eval and medical screening. TIMELINE: Even if you have Health NE, if you are submitting your paperwork now you will not have a meeting with a surgeon till around Christmas. At that time it will be determined what medical screening you need and after scheduling it and obtaining the results, another 4 to 5 months, you will be scheduled for surgury- after insurance approval- in another 4 to 6 months. (If you start this morning- you are 12 months minimum from surgury) You can work with your PCP to start the screening early- get a gallbladder Ultrasound if you still have the GB. Consider a sleep apnea test now to make sure you aren't waiting for one months down the road. Get the lists of what your insurance requires and start now if you have to meet with a dietician on a monthly private basis or anything like that. Make sure you have your insurance ducks in a row in a major way because the office does not assist with appeals on a regular basis and is very reluctant to go beyond the initial submission. Coe and Munshi are both excellent surgeons- Coe does open only and Munshi is lap. They do 6 WLS per week total between them. Baystate has a floor that is geared towards WLS patients and is suppose to be excellent. Hope this helps!!