I've finally finished my 6 months of MD supervised diet and counseling visits. In some ways it seems like it took forever and in other ways it seems like it all went by really fast. I'm so excited to be past that part of things. I finished the visits last week and made sure that all of the records got to the surgeon's office. The counseling stuff was sent over immediately by the therapist I worked with. I had received the copy of my medical records from my primary doctor's office before my last MD visit. So, I sent the first 5 months of my 6 months MD visits to the surgeon's office by mail. Then, at my 6 month visit, all I had to do was get a copy of the last MD progress note. I faxed it to the surgeon's office from home that night. I called the next morning (Friday) and they had received the fax. I was told at that time that the counseling records were there and the psych eval was too. So, at that point, we had everything necessary to present to insurance. I paid the $250 insurance filing fee that my surgeon's office charges and was told that it would be submitted early the next week.

I didn't want to be a nag with the surgeon's office, but I decided that for $250 to file the claim with UnitedHealth Care, they could probably stand to put up with a few extra calls from me at that point. So, I called back Tuesday afternoon to once again verify that everything was a go. I was told that they were working on my claim right then. When I checked with UHC by phone on Wednesday, nothing was in the system at that point. I decided to give it another day or so because the rep said it can take 24 to 48 hours to show up in the computer system.

By this point, I was really trying not to stress. I knew that in the big scheme of things, I really had not been waiting a long time. My only reason for concern was that, like a lot of people, I had a verify specific time frame for when I wanted to have my surgery. I knew that I needed time after getting my insurance approval to get in all the pre-op tests before the tentative surgery date that I had been given, which was mid-June. On Friday morning, before I had a chance to call and nag anyone, my nurse case coordinator from UHC called to say that she had received the request from my surgeon's office but the last MD diet note was missing, as was the documentation to say that I completed the six months of counseling. WTH!!! Of course I wasn't happy to hear that. But, I assured her that I had completed everything in early May and had proof of it. I explained why the last MD probably was not with the other documents. She said that she could verify the counseling stuff through the UHC computer system, but would have to get that final MD note. She said that she would call the surgeons' office and get them to fax that final note and that would complete my request. I followed up later that day with the surgeon's office. They had found the final MD note that I faxed and sent it to the case coordinator.

So now it's Sunday and I'm in waiting mode. From what I've heard, UHC turns their approvals around pretty quick. I'm hoping to know by tomorrow or Tuesday at the latest. I'm anxious to get my GI and cardiac clearances, and whatever else the surgeon requires. One month to go before my tentative surgery date....