Revision band to RNY... worried about denial (cigna and slippage)

I don't have cigna but, for my insurance I had started recording every bite that went in my mouth, every physical activate and daily weigh-ins on CalorieCount.about.com.  It is like MyfitnessPal but, I was already doing this site and didn't like to switch.  When my PCP sent in my request she added the 1 inch thick piles of print outs.  I was even fighting a once in a lifetime policy and they took this as proof of compliance and exercise.  I think the number of pages along with all my data from following up monthly with the surgery center as enough documentation.

I have a question for you, im in the same boat here i have Cigna also and trying to get a revision from lapband to the sleeve, i had the lapband for 2 years and could no longer tolerate any fills, terrible acid reflux, food sitting in my stomach for days at a time just everything going wrong, so i sent to my insurance for a lapband removal, came back denied stating i only had coverage for one weight loss surgery in a life time, appealed and got approved for the lapband to be removed, so it was removed on May 23th, then my surgeon sent for a revision, came back denied stating the same thing plan only covers 1 surgery per lifetime, this is what confuses me about the requirements stated up above about cigna covers revision, which i have appealed this denial also, beacuse i was in complaince and per my surgeon i meet all the requirements you have stated here, and i did print and send in with the appeal letter, still waiting now to see what they have to say, any suggestions or comment would be really helpful, thanks. 

I just got an approval for band to sleeve revision. Mine was submitted to Cigna on 5/23/14 and I got approval today. Any news yet?

Yeah!

I got approved yesterday :) surgery is June 30th. Just under 4 weeks and holy cow am I nervous now. 

Yay! for both of us. I haven't gotten my surgery date yet but I am also so very nervous. Good luck to you.

Hey,

Congrats! I am really happy for you, and you will do well. Would you be able to kind of summarize everything that you and your doctor submitted (pieces of info they needed) so that others could emulate your path? 

For example, was there a particular template you followed? What exactly did you use in terms of showing compliance in particular if you don't mind sharing?

Also, were you approved for a revision specifically OR were you approved for a NEW surgery + removal of old. (Knowing this might help folks like me who were kind of in the same boat, approval process for either of these seems to be a little different).

Thanks so much for updating. You have given the rest of us hope. How many days after submitting did you get a response?

Sure. So I am officially getting a band to rnygb bypass. I started with it all. Saw the nutritionist,  had the psych eval, attended the class, all blood work and h pylori etc... had 2 of 3 doc supervised weight loss visits and finally had an upper GI which determined it was horizontal and considered a slip. So just about everything you would need for a new surgery. Once all that was done they took those results plus got all medical records from my band which showed compliance as far as being consistent with fills etc... With all of that they submitted last Tuesday and it took 5 business days for approval. I found out by calling yesterday.  I should also mention that they submitted with my surgery date picked. They find it is more likely to be approved with that. I still have to attend a life after rny class and final weigh in but I'm prepared now. Nervous and scared and stoked all at the same time. 

So for the supervised weight loss visits, you only submitted 2 out of 3 for that? 

By the way, I've submitted my claim as well, but have done so without any of the checklist things covered yet (covering them all this month), just to get a response out of them and basically get the ball rolling. I'm assuming they won't approve me due to lack of a medical cause without having to submit all of the stuff like you, but I want it written out with specific words so they can't leave it up to their interpretation. Hopefully I'll hear the preliminary decision in a few days.

Did you have to attend the life after RNY class as per Cigna or for your doc office requirements?