Well I've got my psych eval and first dr's appt under my belt. My first nut appt is next wed. I'm lucky in that I only have to do 3 months of visits with my doc & nut before they submit to my ins (aetna hca) for approval! I'm not really nervous yet, I'm the type that doesn't get too nervous until the day of. I guess I've been waiting so long to be able to do this that I don't want to jinx it and get overly excited too soon. I've been looking all through this site and it's been very informative! I have also been viewing You Tube videos to watch peoples accounts of their sleeve journeys... I am trying to decide if I want to record something now that I can refer back to later on in the journey for reference/encouragement. So just wanted to say hi to all you that have yet to get your sleeve, like me, and thanks to those of you already on your journey who have offered such wonderful insight!

Hi! I have my first NUT seminar/meeting tomorrow morning and I am so excited! It's great to finally be getting the ball rolling. I am not sure whether I have to do 3mos or 6 my insurance policy is super confusing but hopefully they can explain it to me at the surgeons office! I am hoping for only 3 mos!! Good luck to you!!

Aetna here too! I had my 1st "official" doctors appt last Tuesday as well as the 1st nutritionist appt on Thursday. I've had all my labwork, the EKG, the chest xrays and the Upper GI done, too.

Now I have 2 more surgeon & nutritionist appts, one visit with a physical therapist, the psych eval and a 2 hour nutrition class and I'm done. The surgery is ALL I can think if and I'm so flippin' nervous that I won't be approved!!!! I think I'll just be crushed...

Hi. I also have Aetna HCA, but I have to wait 6 months. I just had my first appt with my surgeon, and my first appt with my PCP to start my supervised weight loss. I meet again with my surgeon in October, and he will refer me to the nut and for the psych eval. I'm hoping I can get my surgery in December, but I don't know yet.

I'm really curious about how you are able to do 3 months. I even talked to the insurance and their standard policy is 6 months. I wonder if it's just a different policy. Good luck to you! I was so happy when my husband's hospital started doing them again. For a long time if you had HCA in Oklahoma you had to go out of state for the surgery. I'm excited I can have it here now.

Did they not give you the 3 month option? Aetna has a Clinical Policy Bulletin for obesity surgery that lays out the criteria in detail. Maybe your company requires the 6 month route??

If you Google 'Aetna Clinical Policy Bulletin Obesity', you can find it easily...

I have that, and read it again now. I think what is going on with me is my doctor is just starting out his practice and doesn't have all those steps set up to do the 3 month program. He has done a lot of surgeries before, but just moved to Oklahoma to start up a practice at our HCA hospital. I will just focus on these 6 months to make the changes I need to be successful.

I hope you have a wonderful experience. I've been very pleased over the years with our insurance through HCA. I'm looking forward to hearing how your approval process goes.

Kristal

There is a 6 month and a 3 month option. With the 6 mo one, you see the doctor for 6 mos, the nut once and one psych eval. With the 3 mo one, you see the doctor for 3 mos, the nut for 3 mos and one psych eval. Thats the only difference... You really should check into it again to be sure, otherwise it may be a specific policy this hospital has? My husband works at menorah and we have wellcare level 3.