Question:
How long does it take for approval

Hi everyone. I just had my consult on the 14th and I just wanted to know how long does it take for insurance approval. I have a hmo and my surgeon has to submit his reccomondations to my pcp and then my pcp has to contact my health site for approval. How long does this process take? I know that I need to be patient, but I want this so bad. I called my pcp and my insurance and they haven't received anything yet. Also I have to schedule a sleep study. What is that like? What does it involve. Thank you all for your support and your e-mails. I love getting the advise. Marian    — marian (posted on March 19, 2003)

March 19, 2003
Marian, it is impossible to predict how long it will be between consult, approval, surgery, etc. It depends on your health insurance company, your PCP's staff, getting all the tests done, etc. It can be from a few days to months. Good luck!
   — Kasey

March 19, 2003
hi there :) everyones situation will be different but i have to say that my process went very smooth and very fast. i called pcp on the phone expressing my interest in having wls 2 days before thanksgiving 2001. by the saturday after, she had a referal in hand for me to see a surgeon. i was able to have a conslutation with him on dec 14. he then ordered some preop tests that he requires one to have before making the decison to go ahead with the surgery. i waited 1 week for referals to have the preop tests done. made appts for those and by jan 14 those were done and out of the way. i then had to have the results of the tests viewded by the surgeon doing my gp. after he gave the go ahead for surgery, he submitted a letter of medical neceesity to my pcp and i waited 1 week for aproval and referal for my gastric bypass!! very fast in my opinion!i helped to confort myself by always having pcps number and fax on hand and like wise for the surgeon as well. i figured theres a alot of phone tag going on and faxing during this process so i wanted to help speed it along in any way i could. im very happy it went fast for me, i couldnt have waited too much longer i would have gone mad! LOL i was really sweating it too because i had been notified that the company i worked for would be closing its doors and moving to china and there was really no specific date given as to when this would happen so i was so afraid id run out of time but thankfully all went so fast! i wish you the best of luck! keep us posted on how your process went! :)
   — carrie M.

March 19, 2003
oops, i forgot to mention that i was able to have my surgery 2 weeks after getting my aproval and referal. it was on feb 8 02. i also had hmo and never had to deal with them myself, it was all handled by the docs.
   — carrie M.