I guess my PCP record department does not care about it's patients or the do not know what the acronym ASAP means. My surgeon is putting the package together to send to my insurance for approval. I have completed everything needed/requested from my insurance (Aetna PPO for DOD employees). Just completed the 3 month physician supervised weight loss. My surgeons office requested, in January, a copy of my health records for 2005-2010. My PCP only sent 2006-2010. I went to their office on March 30 and requested they fax the required documents. I was "assured" that it would be completed by the next Tuesday. I figured that was great because I was to have my 2nd appt with my surgeon the following Wednesday. When I arrived at my surgeons office they informed me that they had not received the fax. Needless to say I was pissed.:thumbup: I was so upset with her that I became one of those people that I do not like. Bitch!!! Well on the way home I called my PCP and they proceeded to tell me that they were unable to fax the records because they are in the archives located in another building and have sent for them. SO, after 8 days they had not received them yet?? I asked her when were they requested from the archives and she assured me they were requested the day after I put in my request. Yeah, right!! Well, long story short...crow does not taste very good. I called my surgeons office and apologized to the insurance clerk. She was just as pissed at the PCP office as I was. It is now 2 weeks after requesting my records. They were finally going to fax the documents yesterday to the surgeon. I am still not sure if they received them because when I called the insurance clerk the answering service picked up and said they closed their office early today. Did they fax them?? Did she file with my insurance company for approval?? There goes another day wasted.

Don't these people understand that every minute of every day matters to a person with a food addiction? I cannot tell you how many times I have wanted to use these delays as "excuses" to go to Dairy Queen and order a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard.

I just needed to vent to people who understand. Thank you for listening.

Okay..So maybe I was being a little cranky when typing the first thread. I apologize.

Things are back on track now. My paperwork has been submitted to Aetna and now I am waiting for my approval. EVERYONE, keep your chin up and deal with delays better than I did. I didn't do me or anyone else any good to get so upset. I did end up going to DQ for a blizzard and I felt so incredibly sad that I let myself get in such a funk. It's all good now. Back on track. I refuse to let these types of things ruin my happiness and success. :thumbup:

Delays are aggravating. Glad to hear things are back on track.

i understand your frustration, this is a life changing step your about to take and sometimes the pcp's just dont get it. myne have refused to even submit some of my records and proof of blood work just because they can. for me its almost like my condition is irrelevant to them and they just dont seem to be able to meet my needs? whatever wel get there keep your chin up because they second that you are banded im sure you will never look back :thumbup:

I know impatience!!! I so understand your need to vent!

I've been at this process since early last fall with one delay after another- it is aggravating. I decided to use the time to practice new behaviors that I would need once I'm banded.

Patience- small bites and patience- chew chew chew and patience- journal my intake and exercise and patience- actually regularly exercise and patience- calm down my impatience and patience- not give in to excuses, and patience- remind myself Rome wasn't built in a day. Some days I do better than others, but I'm feeling pretty good about my progress.

On the other hand, if my doctor puts me off again tomorrow for one reason or the other, he better be prepared for my reaction :thumbup: !

:ohmy::laugh: Anne, you crack me up.

I hear ya! I have been at this getting all the requirements done for the last 15 months and found out today my PCP finally sent the letter of medical necessity to the surgeon at least this is what they told me!) so now I'm just waiting for them to submit everything to the insurance company for approval.

Candy Rain, those are your records not theirs. You can request a copy of each thing they have, you may have to pay for it, but it is your right to have a copy of it.

I had a problem getting my 2005, I changed to a diff PCP in 2006, so 2006-2010 were easy to get. I had to finally go to my obgyn and get my weigh in records from them for 2005. We always find a way :smile:

Good luck!

I had a similar problem with my PCP (and I also have Aetna!) The bad news was that my PCP first 'forgot' how long I'd been seeing them and didn't provide enough weight history -- then when I called them, they had to dig forever for more weight history and they had lost the only official weight I had had in 2007.

My surgeon's office wanted to submit 5 years of weight history, Aetna requires 2 years (I think) and I only had 3 years after days of going back and forth between PCP and surgeon's office -- missing 2007 and 2008, the two more recent years that I thought for sure Aetna would demand!

I didn't hold out any hope for getting approval but my husband kept telling me that there was no doubt that they'd approve me. Lo and behold my approval arrived in the mail on Saturday! It was definitely nice to be wrong and hear that "I told you so" from him, hehe :smile:

It is totally understandable how frustrated, annoyed and impatient you feel. Definitely rant and get it off your chest, especially to people here or those close to you so you don't feel like you're going it alone. That way even when you feel down or a bit hopeless, you've got people to carry the torch for a bit until you feel up to doing it again! And you will, because this process may be frustrating, but it is going to be utterly worth it in the end :drool:

You will get your approval and you're also already working on taking charge of your health, your medical records, your doctors and your insurance, all to get the healthy body you want and deserve. Way to go

So sorry to hear how frustrating it is. I'm glad it did work out though.

lotusflwr - How long did the approval take with Aetna?

I called my surgeons office today and asked when did they send my paperwork. AHHHHHHH They haven't sent it yet. She thinks they might get to it before Friday. Deep breaths. I have to keep reminding myself that Rome was not built in a day and my ass did not get this size over night. All good things come to those who wait.:smile:

It was about 3 weeks from when I last talked to the surgeon's office and they said they'd go ahead and submit what they had until I got the letter in the mail.

The surgeon's office told me to expect it to be about 2 weeks, so I was just starting to get nervous when my copy of the approval finally showed up this weekend.

I actually wound up calling them today to ping them since I hadn't heard anything from the surgery coordinator. I was getting impatient/worried that they hadn't gotten their copy of the approval stuff yet... err, I mean I was being assertive and making sure everything was being handled. ;D

I'm a self pay so I didn't have to get my records, but it is a good thing, because all of my medical records were lost when they went to the archives. I never received them. They appologized........ Nice huh? Hugs!!!