Insurance approval

I hope everyone had a great New Year's.  I thought I'd put this question out to the community for some solicited advice.

I finished all the requirements by Nov 15th.  By Nov 21st, my Dr had received all of my paperwork and was ready to process for insurance approval.  Almost seven weeks later, I still haven't heard anything from them regarding my approval and scheduling a date.  I know the holidays probably caused things to get a little backed up but I was wondering if anyone else has had to wait this long and it there anything I can do to speed things up?

Any thoughts / comments would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris

What insurance do you have? I have Blue Shield of Ca and it is in their policy to have an answer in 5-7 business days. Have you spoke with your doctor? I also know that a lot of people try to get different procedures done before the end of the year because they do not want to start over with the deductibles/ co-pays etc. Maybe that is why the insurance company is a little behind. You can even try giving your insurance company a call as well; I had better luck calling the provider customer care, they seemed to know what they were talking about.

I was having a similar issue and I just kept following up with the surgical coordinator.  For me it was more my Dr's office not submitting for approval.  I was approved within 1 week when it was finally submitted.  I am scheduled for surgery 1/24.  Good Luck! 

I probably got lucky with this but I posted on my facebook page asking if anyone worked at my insurance company.  Surprisingly, someone did and they were able to explain the process and "influence the movement" of my approval.

I suggest you call your insurance and ask them where they are in the process and if a decision hasn't been made, when is a reasonable time to check back... I have heard of several cases when a patient had been approved and there was a mis communication between the insurance and doctors office, and the patient was in limbo when in fact, the process could have been moving forward. My decision took all but 10 business days. I hae bluecross Illinois, but given you submitted in the brunt of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years, it have been misplaced. Just give them a call. Good luck.

Thank you all for the information. I have insurance through the CareFirst network. I just got off the phone with the surgical coordinator and still no word from the insurance company. She said they'll ask for a status update which at this point means nothing. I guess no news is good news and at least I haven't been denied but I really need to feel forward progress at this point. Through the entire eight month journey, I’ve been driving toward a goal and now this waiting is just miserable.

Thanks again for the replies, OH users rock.

I called the insurance company everyday.  They kept saying they were waiting on something from the doctors office.  As persistant as I was letting them know that the doctor's office had faxed it a week ago, one of the CSR pulled it from their computer system and downloaded it for the nurse's review.  If I had not been persistant they would have kept blaming the doctor's office.  I was approved the next day. Surgery is for 1/17/2012. You have been patient enough.  Good Luck

I had the same issue. I had aetna. They have 15 business days to approve I was told. I called the insurance everyday after submission. They told me everything was fine and then after a week I got upset cause a nurse hadn't even opened the file. The nurse called me that day told me that they clinicals weren't complete. Long story short after phone calls to my doctors office to address the fax and back and forth to the insurance company I was approved on 12/27 and had surgery on 12/29. I would suggest to stay on top of the insurance company and the doctors office. Be proactive. The doctors office only knows what the insurance tells them and only when prompted. Good Luck!

 Hello, I have BCBS of Texas. My paper work was sent in on Wed. dec.21 and and I had an answer the next Thursday. It was denied, but at least the waiting is over!