I heard about VSG over 2 years ago and finally took the steps towards having surgery by attending a seminar in May 2012. (I hope Iggychic reads this because this is another story of a "Bariatric Center of Excellence") There was only one doctor at this hospital's "BCE" and he conducted the seminar. I made an appointment and had a three-hour appointment in July: 1 hour with doc, 1 hour with NUT and 1 hour with social worker/mental health person. At the time, my insurance was Cigna. Cigna reduced the wait time to three months instead of six. Yeah! Finished my 3 nutrition classes in November and scheduled surgery for December 17th, so my sister could be out with me to help around house with kids.

ONE WEEK after my surgery was scheduled, I get a phone call from the "BCE" telling me that the doctor I was seeing has left the practice to start up his own practice. (He also lost priviledges to operate at that hospital location.) Since it was late November, I KNEW that my insurance would be changing for the worse in January and the only way I could keep my surgery date was to stay with the "BCE" and not stay with my doctor. It was very unsettling, but like most people who have this kind of surgery, I had hit a wall re: weight loss and at my age, I really felt like if I didn't do something soon, I was not going to have the quality of life to enjoy my kids (who are still young). So, I met briefly with the new surgeon at the BCE. I found out he had joined the practice over the summer, so I assumed that this meant he had nothing to do with the other surgeon's leaving in November.

I had surgery on 12/17. My healing has been great. Haven't lost a ton of weight, but I haven't had some of the bigger problems people contend with post-surgery. Saw my surgeon on 1/2 and scheduled an appointment with the NUT for end of January (6 weeks out)....

Today I was at my local costco when I ran into my original surgeon....shopping for bulk egg whites and Greek yogurt...They're in the same refrigerator section....I greeted him. Of course, he didn't remember me from July, but that was okay. I asked him about his departure and he told me he WAS LET GO DUE TO HIS SALARY. The "BCE" is a practice that is really run by the hospital and the hospital wanted to save money, so they hired the second doctor at the end of the summer because he was so much cheaper (having less experience than the first doctor). Now, I should say that based on the care I got from the second surgeon, I don't think he did anything badly because he was less experienced. In fact, in some ways, he was probably MORE cautious about certain things...But what really upset me was that the original doctor told me that pretty much the ENTIRE STAFF of the "BCE" was leaving the "BCE" and coming to join his practice. So, my appointment with the NUT? She has already left the "BCE" but the "BCE" hasn't called me to let me know. Maybe they don't think they need to because the NUT is not a doctor and as long as they have another NUT in place, it's all good to them. However, from my perspective, I felt like my relationship was more certain with the support staff in place. Now that I know it is gone, I feel really like the health care system has let me down. In the future, I could potentially switch over to the original doctor and his staff, but currently they do not take my new, lousier insurance with United Healthcare.

So, let this be a warning, just because a center/practice has the words "Bariatric Center of Excellence" does NOT mean anything!!! Excellence my A$$!

LOL My previous BCE goes through NUTS like caramel candies in front of the unsleeved BCE means they cut a lot of holes, not that each doctor is highly skilled etc. Just that the facility meets certain goals. Given a day surgery center with out the ability to tread a heavy bleed made the cut...well you know how I feel about the BCE badge LOL