My paperwork was submitted to insurance for the second time last Tuesday.. I called insurance on Friday to check the status and I was approved. So I called and emailed my coordinator with the good news. I emailed her again Monday.. No response to any of the calls or emails I sent. So I called her first thing this morning to ask ifs head received my messages and the insurance approval.. All I got from her was yes I got them.. Then she tells me I have to wait until she sees if the insurance sent over the approval. (Which they did as of last Wednesday.. I called and asked)

She won't schedule anymore of my appointments.. Won't give me a surgery date.. Ughhhhh.. I am so frustrated.. I just want to know what's going on! I know they are busy and part of it is me being impatient and super excited to start my new life.. But the other part is I seriously think she's avoiding me..

I think you should see a different dr. If the insurance already approved you, you should be able to go somewhere else. I am sorry this is happening with you. Keep your head up and please dont let them get you down. It will happen.

Wow!!!!!! I would be so pi$$ed!!!! Is the other lady cash pay? If not, I think I would be checking with the insurance and finding a new DR. That is ridiculous!!!!

Nope she has the same health insurance that I do.. She told me that her sister works at the hospital though.. So that's my guess!

I would find out who her boss is, in a hospital, there will almost always be someone higher, or if you can, speak to the surgeon directly. You can still change Drs, once insurance approves the surgery, your good. (from my understanding)

Looks like I am stuck.. I called every hospital/weight loss center within two hours from me.. And all of them want to make me start from scratch at the beginning..

If you don't demand to speak to the BOSS!HUH ! Believe me you will get answers.I wouldn't have mine's done with them.

Hang in there, girl! It was frustrating to call my advocate and have to leave her a voicemail. Especially when her greeting says "... leave ONE message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can", in a bit of a snooty tone of voice. There were several days I'd wanted to talk to her because I felt like someone had dropped the ball somewhere because of how long it was taking. She started calling me back while I was indisposed and she called like 8 times and sent me two emails that I needed another weigh in. If your doctor's practice is anything like mine, they are completely inundated with people and constantly busy. Don't lose heart!!! It'll be your turn soon to have their undivided attention and things will start moving along faster. Maybe even faster than you'd like!

Hang in there' date=' girl! It was frustrating to call my advocate and have to leave her a voicemail. Especially when her greeting says "... leave ONE message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can", in a bit of a snooty tone of voice. There were several days I'd wanted to talk to her because I felt like someone had dropped the ball somewhere because of how long it was taking. She started calling me back while I was indisposed and she called like 8 times and sent me two emails that I needed another weigh in. If your doctor's practice is anything like mine, they are completely inundated with people and constantly busy. Don't lose heart!!! It'll be your turn soon to have their undivided attention and things will start moving along faster. Maybe even faster than you'd like! [/quote']

I sure do hope so Memphis.. This is taking its toll on me.. I sit and cried when I was telling my boyfriend about my coworker.. And I'm not a cryer.. I'm just so stressed with it all..

I sure do hope so Memphis.. This is taking its toll on me.. I sit and cried when I was telling my boyfriend about my coworker.. And I'm not a cryer.. I'm just so stressed with it all..

I would definitely call the office manager and let him/her know that there has been a problem. Tell them the whole story starting with the original submission of your paperwork to now. And just let them know you need to know if there is some sort of problem. So you can follow up if there is. I know you don't wanna stretch this out by going to someone else but they don't have to know this. There is definitely someone above this coordinators head and that is where I would go. If this is a hospital program there is a long line of administrators above her. And every hospital has a hotline for complaints. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. MAKE SOME NOISE GIRL!!!!!

Edit: let them know about the coworker that state the program the same time you did. I would share all the details.

I wish you the best of luck and hope that they answer you soon and that your surgery is schedule quickly.

You know this is the same exact thing that happened to me....same thing. I called another place and told them MY INSURANCE IS READY TO PAY FOR MY SURGERY, I FULL FILLED ALL THEIR REQUIREMENTS AND THEY HAVE APPROVED THE PROCEDURE. I would like one of your doctors to get this money since the people that I started the process with seems too busy to get this money!!

The young lady on the phone Jessica said wow ok, never had this happened b4, let me speak to the office manager. I held on for about 4mins, she came back and said ok you're good to go, come meet the surgeon next week and we'll schedule you for August 7th.

I called my original hospital and told them to fax all my files to xyz's office because MY COORDINATOR IS TOO BUSY AND IM TOO BUSY TOO. The woman said hold on, the coordinator picked up the line and said someone canceled and she can get me in August 14th. Less than 20 mins ago she wanted to schedule me for the end of September.....

The place I was going to change to is more than an hour from me, but I knew they wouldn't let $50-60k go, that'll be just plain stupid!

Send a thank you card with a gift card for dinner or a fruit bouquet or something. That will bump you up to the top of the list no matter how busy she is. Sometimes people need a little motivation to do their job as effeciently as they should.

Call the dr. Or find a new dr. And send a letter explaining why.

So I finally did it.. I sent the lead person of the unit an email this evening explaining everything.. she emailed me back within 30mins saying that she will look into it and get back to me tomorrow... this is the email that I sent her.. do you think that I got my point across?

Good afternoon Amy..

How are you this evening? As for me well I am sure that I could be better. As you may or may not know I am an active patient going through the bariatric program. The reason that I am writing you today is that there are something that are bothering me in the care that I am receiving. First of all I want to say that I love RMH, I try to stay local as often as possible when it comes to my medical care.

With that being said I started my journey in January of this year. When I started the journey I knew going into it that it wouldn’t be something that happened over night. I have done all of the tests that have been required of me in a timely manner and tried my best to stay on top of my care. I like to know what’s going on and where things are in the process. I understand that there is a protocol to how things are done. And I understand completely the need for such protocol.

All of my documents were submitted to insurance and I received approval from my insurance company on June 21^st. I was so excited and looking forward to finishing the process and getting my new lifestyle started. With that being said the wrong procedure had been submitted to insurance for approval. Which has caused delays in my care that I don’t think should have been there. When I started my journey Bonnie and I had talked and I was still undetermined as to which procedure I wanted. I have been in constant contact with her via phone, email. I have also been in the office several times since the beginning of my journey and not once was it asked of me as to which procedure I wanted before it got sent to insurance. Thus causing a delay.

A co-worker of mine started her journey around the same time that I did. However she took a few months off from hers due to other health conditions. Her and I spoke the other night and she has been ushered through the entire process and received her surgery date today. I find this ludacris, how can we have the same insurance and the same care provider but she has the fast track and I am being stalled?

Another things that is concerning me is the way that I am being treated by Bonnie. I know that I may be a bit of a worry-wart. And I know that your office is a very busy place, and that I am not the only patient that you all have. I am not that naive. However as a patient I don’t want my doctors or doctors assistants to be rude to me, not return emails and/or phone calls. As an example today when I called her to ask about my progress when she answered the phone she was super happy and nice, as soon as she heard that it was me on the other end you could hear her tone change completely.

I don’t think that I am asking for special care. And I don’t think that I am asking too much. I just honestly feel that my care and myself are being ignored. And as a paying patient I feel that my care should be just as good as everyone else’s. If there is something that I am doing or not doing for that matter that is delaying the process that I would like to know. Other than that I don’t see why my progress is so slow. I normally don’t complain when it comes to things like this. However this has literally gone too far.

Thank you very much for your time,

Crystal

Good for you!!! I think you took the right step in getting this done. Let us know what you fine out tomorrow. The email sounded great and truthful. All you are asking is to be treated fairly. That is what we all want.