Please tell me your experience

Generally positive. The Options class was a hassle, and I had a 6 month delay between referral and surgery, but the surgeon was great, the staff good, and so far so good.

any tips to help speed the process?

So far, so good. I emailed by doctor about wanting to pursue bariatric surgery in Feb 2015. He referred me to the program, I attended the information session and picked the track that started almost a month later on 3/11. Before the track started, I had to have a body analysis, where they weigh me, told me my BMI, and took my picture. The program was 12 weeks and during that time they wanted you to lose 10% of your body weight (I was close but did not hit the goal). During the Options program, I also had to talk to a therapist, have blood/stool lab work, and talk to the lead bariatric surgeon. We were told that it would be 4-6 weeks after graduation that the surgeon would contact us for the consultation. I graduated on 5/27, I had another body analysis on 6/1, got a call from the surgeon's office on 6/8 to schedule my consultation on 6/12. At that time, we discussed the RnY and gastric sleeve and with his input I chose the sleeve. He set my surgery date for 7/7 but it was moved up to 7/6.

As far as "speeding up the process" there is not much you can do, especially since there is no speeding up the classes. I will say that I did everything that was required of me as soon as I could (blood work, therapist appointments, etc) so that if there was a delay it would not be my fault. I definitely think that helped.

Good luck to you!