Hi,

I have UHC, but more importantly anyone have a Cali doctor? Do they have good recommendations? I'm in San Francisco but willing to travel around some.

Hi,

I'm going to be sleeved by Dr. Feiz in Los Angeles. He's considered one of the best doctors for this type of surgery. Great reviews and he's very personable. He has several locations. Here is his link:

http://www.drfeiz.com/office-locations/office-locations-a-maps.html

Good luck!

Dr. Cirangle in SF is the best! A pioneer of the vsg. www.lapsf.com

Hi VST Addict -- that's who I'm seeing on Tues. for consult as I've heard he's the best but when I called coordinator told me it's a $5,600 program fee ontop of the cost of the surgery and what my OOP max is from ins. That made no sense to me and I hadn't heard anyone else on here saying they had program fee... as I have ins. that will cover tests, visits, follow ups, physch eval.

What was your experience with his office?

I too had a 'program fee'. An extra $600 not covered by insurance or co-pay! But I like my doctor, dr. Quillici out of Providence St. joseph's hospital in Burbank! It is a center of excellence and my cousin used him for surgery last year. Very good hospital and doc. Ultimately I put this in the hands of God to guide the dr. through a successful surgery.

I hope you find a doctor that you like and feel comfortable with.

Cirangle's program fee isn't too patient friendly, particularly considering that it covers a lot of things that would be covered by insurance if they were billed separately. His program is a bit one-size-fits-all which is great if you fit his profile but a bit of a waste of his high program fee if you don't. Some docs charge a program fee, but it is usually a nominal few hundred dollars to cover thier support groups and the like. By all feedback from the online patient population he is a well qualified surgeon though I can't say what his reputation amongst his peers is (which can be quite different.)

I went with Dr. Rabkin in SF who is another long experienced sleeve and DS guy (came up from SoCal for him,) He doesn't have any program fees, but he also isn't in network for any of the major insurance companies (I think that he buries the costs of what would be the "program fee" in the ordinary surgical fee, so doesn't have room for the forced discount for the insurance networks - you pay one way or another - though since I had already hit my max out of pocket limit for the year, the insurance paid his fee 100%.) The other SF doc that I would consider is Dr. Jossart who used to partner with Cirangle and did his early training with the Rabkins. A little further out in CA is Dr. Keshisian who operates out of the central valley and Glendale and is another of the top drawer DS/sleeve surgeons around.

If you happen to have any liver issues along with your obesity problems, Rabkin is your go-to guy as he is also an experienced biliopancreatic transplant surgeon.

Cirangle's program fee isn't too patient friendly, particularly considering that it covers a lot of things that would be covered by insurance if they were billed separately. His program is a bit one-size-fits-all which is great if you fit his profile but a bit of a waste of his high program fee if you don't. Some docs charge a program fee, but it is usually a nominal few hundred dollars to cover thier support groups and the like. By all feedback from the online patient population he is a well qualified surgeon though I can't say what his reputation amongst his peers is (which can be quite different.)

I went with Dr. Rabkin in SF who is another long experienced sleeve and DS guy (came up from SoCal for him,) He doesn't have any program fees, but he also isn't in network for any of the major insurance companies (I think that he buries the costs of what would be the "program fee" in the ordinary surgical fee, so doesn't have room for the forced discount for the insurance networks - you pay one way or another - though since I had already hit my max out of pocket limit for the year, the insurance paid his fee 100%.) The other SF doc that I would consider is Dr. Jossart who used to partner with Cirangle and did his early training with the Rabkins. A little further out in CA is Dr. Keshisian who operates out of the central valley and Glendale and is another of the top drawer DS/sleeve surgeons around.

If you happen to have any liver issues along with your obesity problems, Rabkin is your go-to guy as he is also an experienced biliopancreatic transplant surgeon.

Thank you for this Rick! I'll look into Dr. Jossart as I see he accepts United Healthcare so hopefully he is in-network. I've heard some great things about him, and now that I've talked to several patients of Cirangle from here I understand that the program fee is not anything negotiable even if my insurance would cover it all. Too bad -- I need to cancel my consult I think now and try to find someone else. I would think that I could have most everything covered as the insurance told me over the phone by UHC and my MAX cost would be $2k as that is all I have left for OOP max until June 30th, 2013. Also I saw that on the Sutter Health website for Dr. Jossart that UHC doesn't require a 3 or 6 month diet period... greattttttt! I'm crossing my fingers on this as I meet the over 40 BMI so hope I could get this done quickly.

I too had a 'program fee'. An extra $600 not covered by insurance or co-pay! But I like my doctor, dr. Quillici out of Providence St. joseph's hospital in Burbank! It is a center of excellence and my cousin used him for surgery last year. Very good hospital and doc. Ultimately I put this in the hands of God to guide the dr. through a successful surgery.

I hope you find a doctor that you like and feel comfortable with.

Thank you for this info! It's been quite hard to find any program fee information from patients on this site, so have been trying to research this myself. $600 is NOTHING compared to $5,600 good for you!

Hi' date='

I have UHC, but more importantly anyone have a Cali doctor? Do they have good recommendations? I'm in San Francisco but willing to travel around some.[/quote']

Hey, I'm in San Jose and after doing a long of research, including having a consult with Dr Cirangle in SF I decided on Dr Zare with good Samaritan hospital. I'm very happy with his office and him. His program fee is also a lot less than dr c which was only one reason I wasn't

T seeing him. I'm very excited for my surgery in January. Good luck in finding a dr and I highly recommend Dr Zare.

Cirangle's program fee isn't too patient friendly' date=' particularly considering that it covers a lot of things that would be covered by insurance if they were billed separately. His program is a bit one-size-fits-all which is great if you fit his profile but a bit of a waste of his high program fee if you don't. Some docs charge a program fee, but it is usually a nominal few hundred dollars to cover thier support groups and the like. By all feedback from the online patient population he is a well qualified surgeon though I can't say what his reputation amongst his peers is (which can be quite different.)

I went with Dr. Rabkin in SF who is another long experienced sleeve and DS guy (came up from SoCal for him,) He doesn't have any program fees, but he also isn't in network for any of the major insurance companies (I think that he buries the costs of what would be the "program fee" in the ordinary surgical fee, so doesn't have room for the forced discount for the insurance networks - you pay one way or another - though since I had already hit my max out of pocket limit for the year, the insurance paid his fee 100%.) The other SF doc that I would consider is Dr. Jossart who used to partner with Cirangle and did his early training with the Rabkins. A little further out in CA is Dr. Keshisian who operates out of the central valley and Glendale and is another of the top drawer DS/sleeve surgeons around.

If you happen to have any liver issues along with your obesity problems, Rabkin is your go-to guy as he is also an experienced biliopancreatic transplant surgeon.[/quote']

Thanks again! I'm seeing Dr. Jossart Friday and went to his monthly meeting yesterday. He doesn't charge a program fee at all--yay!!

Dr. Cirangle was my surgeon. Yes, I paid the "program fee" for Dr. Cirange, but this might help clarify. The $5600 I paid was all I ever paid him. I will never pay him another dime for the next 5 years. This includes all follow-up appts, even if my boss changes my insurance (which he did) or even if I lose my insurance. Because of Dr. Cirangle's experience and the convenience of him driving 3 hrs every couple of months to come to the central coast for follow-up appointments, the fee was worth it. I live in Morro Bay and there are no Bariatric surgeons around here. My insurance required me to have my surgery at Good Sam in San Jose because there are no Bariatric Centers of Excellence in my area. Any option I chose would have meant a 2-3 hr drive every time I had a follow-up visit. Dr. Cirangle is the only Dr. that comes to my area. I have been very happy with him and don't regret anything I have paid him.

Dr. Cirangle was my surgeon. Yes' date=' I paid the "program fee" for Dr. Cirange, but this might help clarify. The 5600 I paid was all I ever paid him. I will never pay him another dime for the next 5 years. This includes all follow-up appts, even if my boss changes my insurance (which he did) or even if I lose my insurance. Because of Dr. Cirangle's experience and the convenience of him driving 3 hrs every couple of months to come to the central coast for follow-up appointments, the fee was worth it. I live in Morro Bay and there are no Bariatric surgeons around here. My insurance required me to have my surgery at Good Sam in San Jose because there are no Bariatric Centers of Excellence in my area. Any option I chose would have meant a 2-3 hr drive every time I had a follow-up visit. Dr. Cirangle is the only Dr. that comes to my area. I have been very happy with him and don't regret anything I have paid him.[/quote']

Love him!

Dr. Cirangle wasn't the cheapest, but he is one of the best. He is widely known by his peers in the medical field to be one of the most expierenced and highly skilled VSG surgeons in the world. People from all over the world fly to SF to see him.

I was a self-pay and there were tons of cheaper options but Dr. Cirangle had the best stats, the best aftercare and a no-BS program that I totally respected. I would reccomend Cirangle in a heartbeat to anyone still looking to find their VSG surgeon.

I never meant to offend anyone with this thread.

I was simply asking for recommendations and then information about charges different doctors had. Thanks everyone for your input.

Hi VST Addict -- that's who I'm seeing on Tues. for consult as I've heard he's the best but when I called coordinator told me it's a 5' date='600 program fee ontop of the cost of the surgery and what my OOP max is from ins. That made no sense to me and I hadn't heard anyone else on here saying they had program fee... as I have ins. that will cover tests, visits, follow ups, physch eval.

What was your experience with his office?[/quote']

Dang my fee was 600 for all the test