I have started my process for approval with Healthnet ***. After I started at my pcp, I had an appointment with a Dietitian. I have my next appointment with the Psychiatrist 8/25. Can anyone advise me on what kind of question they will ask, The scheduler said my first appointment would be a true/false questionnaire. Then I would have a second appointment before going to see the lap band surgeon.

Thank You So Much!

I have started my process for approval with Healthnet ***. After I started at my pcp, I had an appointment with a Dietitian. I have my next appointment with the Psychiatrist 8/25. Can anyone advise me on what kind of question they will ask, The scheduler said my first appointment would be a true/false questionnaire. Then I would have a second appointment before going to see the lap band surgeon.

Thank You So Much!

:blink:I filled out a questionaire, like: did you love your dad, are you happy bla bla, fill in the dots kinda thing. The dr talked about the surgery and said i seemed to be well prepared and educated about procedure and it lasted a whole 15 full minutes. I think they want to see if you all there, as in not looking into the ceiling, or looking frightened, way out un normal. I lost a son a grandson etc, and he really didnt want to know about it. Its all bout the surgery.

My insurance did not require a psych eval. Not sure why, but they didn't. I am not sure I understand why the insurance requires a psych eval for this surgery. Does anyone know?

Thank you for giving your personal experience.

Yes graphix I believe they require it because they want to make sire you are psycologically ready to have surgery and all that the post surgery intells. I understand that, just wondering what exactly they go over and what to be prepared for.

I think the psych eval is bc they want to know if you know what you're gettn into, understand all the pros and cons, have any anorexic/bulimic thinking or behaviors! U know to be wholly mentally prepared for the right reasons.

It depends on the psychologist/psychiatrist. Some require more, some less. My insurance required one to say i knew all the pros and cons but the actual psychologist required me to see her three times. She was great. I had to take the MMPI test which was about 550 questions, time consuming but not that bad. They just need to make sure there are no underlying, un-treated issues.

My eval was about 2.5hrs. There was a meeting with the Dr. for an hour where she asked a bunch of questions.Then I spent what seemed like forever filling out these paper assessments. Didn't find it terribly helpful but i got my letter of clearance so that's all that matters.

My insurance co required a psych eval. It's an attempt "due diligence" as in trying to be sure you are in a sound state of mind, making a decision for yourself and not because of pressure from someone else (Dr.,boyfriend, spouse, mother etc), that you understand what will happen and the consequences of this decision. Otherwise they (Insurance co.) can be sued if someone says they were forced into an operation they really didn't understand or want. It's a sort of 'cover your behind' by the insurance co.

My eval was no big deal. Having been a professional in the field, my therapist was professional and asked all the 'right' questions. The truth is, he really doesn't know me in a 45 min. session and I could have lied through my teeth. He has to use his best judgement with the time he has.

If you are concerned you will be asked to spill your deepest darkest secrets, don't worry. There just isn't enough time in one session...

BTW, I did reveal to the therapist my professional past.

HTH

My psych eval. was t/f papers and then about 1-11/2 hours of questions almost all dealing with my eating habits now and in the past. Some of the questions went by me so fast that I really didn't have time to think about them and I was a little confused. He said that I was ready for surgery, but I had to see a theapist on binge eatng, which I haven't done in years. Anyway my regular Psychiatrist wrote a letter saying that everything was in control and then I didn't need to go to counseling.I wsas worried before I went, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and I got approved. I thought that the dietian session was more to talk me out of LB than to see if I was ready. Maybe that's her way of finding out if you are ready to make some major lifestyle changes. Any way I got approved by her as well. I hope that this helps and doesn't scare you away. It will go smoothly if you just stay calm and not worry so much.

It's been awhile, but I remember having to sit in a room alone and answer 450 questions that were quite repetitive!! Enough to drive anyone nuts!! LOL

Wow. You all went through a lot more than I did. I did all my preliminary tests back to back on the same day, in the surgeon's office. I met first with the psych guy, then a physician, then a PA to do my intake records, then the Nutritionist, and then the surgeon. By the time I was done with them, I had my recommendation all set that I was a candidate for surgery.

My psych eval was about a half hour interview with the doctor, who asked me how I felt about my weight, about the surgery, and whether I felt I was prepared to make the life changes required to be successful. I guess I must have given him what he wanted because after about ten minutes we started talking about other things, my time in the military, how long he'd been a shrink, about the hospital we were in, and whatever else. I didn't fill out any forms or take any tests. At the end we stood up, he shook my hand, said, "Good luck!" and he walked out the door.

It was a piece of cake. So to speak...

Dave

My evaluate took about a hour. She covered everything, And if I answered a certain response in a given area, she would explore it more thoroughly.

For instance, I was a teenager in the 60's! Know what mean? But she kept coming back to it.

Talked about my military service and my time in Vietnam.

Talked about my parents.

She was using a program on her laptop and the questions were part of it. She would type in the answers which I quess would trigger additional questions if answered a certain way. She did not ask me much that I felt was from her and not the program.

Mine was all about expectations, goals, and food triggers. It was basically an hour long chat session just to get a feel for my relationship with food, weight, and how I cope with it. We talked about body image, others' perception of my body image, why I eat what I eat, how it makes me feel, etc. The real beneficial part for me was talking about goals. I knew mine were unconventional, since I do not care about setting a weight goal. For me, the goals are things I want to do, like shop for clothes that are not big & tall, being able to walk down the Vegas strip without stopping every 10 min for a rest, and being able to ride a roller coaster again. The therapist said those were some of the healthiest goals he had ever heard, and that made me feel a lot better.