Question:
THE NEWSTART PROGRAM ST LOUIS MO

HAS ANY ONE RECENTLY GONE THREW THE NEWSTART PROGRAM IN ST LOUIS MO? I AM GETTING READY TO SEND IN MY PAPER WORK, HOW LONG CAN I EXSPECT TO WAIT TILT EHY ACTUALLY SEND IT TO AETNA? I WANT DR FABITO TO DO MY WLS! HOW LONG DOES ATENA TAKE FOR APROVAL?    — CYNDI B. (posted on August 22, 2002)

August 22, 2002
I had surgery with Dr. Fabito last October. I also went through the Newsart program. You MUST pester Newstart constantly to get anything done. I can not tell you how many times they 'lost' my file. I honestly believe that there are only 3 people working in that office and my mental picture is of these three people sitting in a closet with milk crates filled with paper and more paper all over the floors. Thank god that all they do for Dr. Fabito is get the approval. Ida does all the scheduling for your visits. From the time they recieved my inital paperwork till they sent it to my insurance was about 2 months. But they lost all this paperwork on two occasions and I had to resend it. Chris in that office is the one that seems to have her head the furthest from the vicinity of her rear end. Good luck!
   — RebeccaP

August 23, 2002
I went through the same program two years ago. Fabito was my surgeon. At that time things were taken care of fairly quickthe only problem I had was with my local Dr. It took a couple of phone calls to get the paperwork to the right place. Otherwise things went through rather quickly. I have lost 150 lbs.. Did away with alot of med problems. I should have done it 4 years earlier, than when I did, when I first looked into it.
   — Dennis J. B.

August 23, 2002
Hi, I went thru the New Start program last year, surgery 6/01, I had Dr.Gaskin though, was really pleased with his care. You might want to check frequently with them, they "misplaced" my file several times also. Had to wait a couple of hours on the day of my pre-ops because my file was "misplaced".
   — Angela S.

August 23, 2002
I had a bit of communication problem...from the time I sent the paperwork to them, to the time I got approved was 2 weeks...it seemed longer, but it was not. I would call and they'd say it's in the file box for Dr. Gaskin to determine if your a canidate...over and over they told me this, and one day after getting off the phone with them and the same answer, I checked the mail and there was my approval letter. TAKE SOMEONE WITH YOU TO CARE FOR YOU AT THE HOSPITAL.
   — MF