How long does it take?

How long does it take, just a general idea of course, from getting your paperwork, mental evaluation, and of course getting an appointment to see the doctor of choice. Is it hard to get an appointment for the consultation? If you have all the above done, troop in with it in your hot hands, is that the last thing to do before them sending it into the insurance company? I have a page that says "The Road to Insurance Approval". I have just read a letter that one lady wrote(and this was the last of June) and she is looking at January?February for the surgery. She apparently has everthing in. Does it take, let me see, 7-8 months to get the approval and a surgery date? Has this been the average of experience with most people? Donna

Hi Donna! I myself am still getting things tied up and together to submit for insurance approval, but I think the length of time it takes for surgery depends on several things, which dr. you go to, your insurance compaby, etc. For instance, my husband started the process last June - attending a seminar and his surgery was in September, so start to finish, the process took him 4 months. I have heard, though, of it taking others longer. Hope that helps! Laura

Your husband must have been really organized in the right direction . Are there any tips he has has about the paperwork to his insurance company that he can pass along. Had he had previous diets supervised by drs. and doctuments to attest to to that. Did he get approved first off, this being why it went so fast. How great for him, we all need an insurance company such as his. Are you following the same route as your husband on the way to approval. Besides blood work from the primary dr. ., a letter from same to recommend the surgery for health reasons, the mental health approval, a support group, records of any co-morbidities and a filled out and completed pile of papers on past health are there any other things to help this process along? I have not had the initial consultation, thought one had to get all the other ducks in a row before getting an appointment for that. I do not know which comes first so plan to call tomorrow when business opens up after the holiday and see if I can get that question answered. But those that have sucessfully jumped through the hoops have invaluable information to inpart, might be different for the next person, but helps not to go down a path that does not help. Sure glad you responded so quickly. If you have any further information, I would really love to write it down. I am gleaming from this that if some people have more serious health problems stemming from the morbid obesity it may take longer to get those issues addressed and onto the surgery. Donna

Donna, I recently looked at my date book to see when I first started on this "journey" and I wrote it all down in a chronology: Weight loss surgery calendar of events: 1/13/04: saw Dr. Eisenberg (ob/gyn for PCOS) and she said I could exist just fine on 600cal/day, except for the extreme hunger I would feel. Eat less, and exercise more. Very demoralized- convinced I can't do this on my own. 2/23/04: saw Dr. Serafin (pcp) for referral for gastric bypass at VU Center for Human Nutrition. 3/15/04: saw Dr.Hadi for initial evaluation for my suitability as a gastric bypass patient. 3/16/04: attended first Gastric Bypass Support Group at Vanderbilt. 3/22/04: went to Dr. Serafin's office for blood work and EKG. 4/6/04: saw Karen Starr for psych evaluation in the morning. Met Dr. Torquati (surgeon) in the afternoon for initial consultation. 4/7/04: Overnight Sleep Study to determine if I have apnea. (neg) 4/19/04: had abdominal ultrasound to check for presence of gallstones. (neg) 5/04: waiting not-so-patiently to hear from my insurance company about whether or not the surgery would be covered. Went on vacation to San Diego. 6//1/04: faxed copies of all my Curves weigh-in sheets to the insurance company as proof of my ongoing "supervised" weight loss attempts within the last 2 years. 6/9/04: Insurance company mailed approval letter to me. 6/11/04: I called insurance company and found out I had been approved! 6/12/04: letter arrived in the mail 6/14/04 I faxed a copy of the letter to VU Center for Human Nutrition. 6/30/04: found out surgery is scheduled for 8/12/04. I have my first appointment with the nutritionist scheduled for 7/19/04, second is on 8/2/04. Also will have blood work done on 8/2/04. so...all in all it is taking about 6 or 7 months, with many steps along the way, just to get to the starting point of weight loss with the surgery....but I know it's well worth it for some of us. Good luck! ~Annie

Donna, All I can say is - Everyone is different when it comes to time frame because... -Doctors are different -We all have different 'problems' (I can't think of the correct word here) -Insurance companies are different -PCP's all work at different speeds to get the paper work All in all - not one person as the same case yet were all working towards the same goal... It took me 3 years to get to where I am. I just finally had the surgery March 24, 2004. My waiting this long had nothing to do with the insurance company, I was approved 3 times.... So like I said - Everyone is different. I wish you the best of luck with your journy... -Katie