Question:
I'm confused about how can give you have a surgery date before

After reading over some of the profiles I notice alot of people surgeons gave them surgery dates before their insurance was approved. HOw can you get a date before approval?    — shae7755 (posted on August 20, 2003)

August 20, 2003
My surgeon did the same thing. They plan as if they will get it approved. They can always cancel if they don't or reschedule. I was orginally scheduled for July but didn't have the surgery until August, because of a problem with the insurance.
   — Lora T.

August 20, 2003
I was given a "tenitive" surgery date when my paperwork was submitted to UHC. After I was approved, the date was actually changed. I think some health providers want a surgery date that is why the surgeon includes it on the paperwork.
   — S A.

August 20, 2003
I work on the insurance end. We have a tentative date so we can enter the authorization in our system. We can "pend" a date, but having any date allows us to generate an authorization number for the surgeon's office. We can easily go back and change the date if need be.
   — koogy

August 20, 2003
My surgeon refuses to do this. My opinion is that surgeons who do this and then proceed with all the pre-op testing are putting their patients are great financial risk. If insurance deny's the request then you are stuck with all the bills associated with the pre-surgery testing. My insurance only required and request from the surgeon and a psych eval, so those would have had to be paid even if I was denied. An additional $7300 of charges occured after approval. I had to have a sleep study and cardiolit stress test. Those two alone were $5300. The rest was for blood work, pulmonary function, upper GI, EKG, nutrition consult etc. I did not need an abdominal ultrasound as my gallbladder was already gone or it would have been more. <p>I would only allow a surgeon to run the tests that the insurance requires for review. Everything else is a gamble.
   — zoedogcbr

August 20, 2003
I was given a surgery date at my consult visit, before I had insurance approval. That's simply how this doctor's office works. They then submitted the request for approval from the insurance company. Once that came in, I scheduled my pre-op appointments. That way I didn't incur any costs until I knew the procedure was approved. The doctor's office assists in the insurance approval process, but I believe it is ultimately the patinet's responsibility to figure out how the procedure will be paid for (insurance, copays, etc.).
   — Vespa R.

August 20, 2003
I believe most center would not give you a date unless they have all the final approved paperwork. BTC wouldn't give me a date until I had all the paperwork. I got my paperwork before they did and I called my new BTC insurance friend who'd I'd bugged for weeks and once she got all the paperwork, she called me to make an appointment.
   — dolphins94

August 20, 2003
My surgeon gave me a date during my first visit to see him. His procedure was to give a date, and then request insurance approval. My surgery was scheduled 4 months ahead of time. He only applied for insurance approval one month before the surgery! If the approval had been denied, he would have cancelled the surgery date. With the long waiting lists that exist for most surgeons now, you want to get on their schedule ASAP. I waited over 6 months for my surgeon. My insurance approved in 2 days.
   — Kathy J.