I have had nothing but problems with my surgeons office from day one. Any kind of problem you can think of, I've had it:

---Having to ask 6 (yes 6 times) for a copy of my blood work so my endocrinologist wouldn't repeat it. Received it to days after I needed it.

---Not sure if they were supposed to call and get preuth for my endoscopy but they didn't and the insurance denied it. They are saying I owe over 6 grand. I have appealed it with the insurance. Hopefully it will be resolved.

---I have asked three times for my "in depth body analysis" that is supposed to let me know areas I need to work on. Never received it so I stopped asking.

----Went for my preop testing. The surgeons office never sent the orders over so it caused a major wait for me. 4 hours for a chest x-ray and EKG.Some of the wait was the hospital though.

--- After three weeks of them having my paperwork, it still had not been submitted to insurance so I sent an email on Monday. She submitted it after she received my email. I sent her an email to let her know to call me on my cell and when she heard from the insurance company and if I couldn't answer, please send me an email . She said certainly.

--- For some reason they had me in the computer as having federal BCBS and mine is not federal. I never told them it was federal and they have a copy of my freaking insurance card! They submitted my personal information to an insurance company I don't even have insurance with!!!!

--- Next. she told me I did not have my 6 months of consecutive PCP documentation, that was not true. She told me I had two in one month. That was not true. I had to clarify my exact dates. Still don't know what the problem was with that.

----But the worse thing of all is I specifically put on my application DO NOT contact me at work. Well what did she do? She called me at work to ask about the flow sheets and my insurance. We have caller id. The caller id shows up on every phone in my small office, name and number, and they asked for me,of course.

I am so angry. My confidentiality was broken twice not once but twice. I know people make mistakes but this is beyond ridiculous. I am beside myself with anger.

Wow. I am sorry you have had to put up with this. That last one is a HIPPA violation and they can get into serious trouble for that, both legally: fined by the government and also sued by you. Is this the best surgeon or is there someone else in your area that could use the work you've already had done and contineu from there? I wouldn't have any confidence in these bozos after all that!

Contact the office manager. I'd send them a formal letter or at least an email with all the details of the shoddy service, the lack of communication, and violation of your specified no contact (not sure that really counts as a HIPAA violation; if you didn't want them contacting you at work, don't provide the work number - and make them remove it from your file - but they did at the very least violate your privacy).

And if you do see the doctor at some point I would also let him/her know that their office management is very poor and that you may be leaving his practice due to the horrible things they have put you through. They should be told at least so they can see if they can fix things or yell at the staff that is screwing up.

A bariatric practice should be VERY streamlined and easy to deal with; they are a for-profit independent business most times, and want to make sure that they have you run through as fast and efficiently as possible, so it sounds like their nurses and benefits coordinator need to be called on the carpet and possibly sent for training (or fired!!) for their overall lack of skill and service.

And if you have time, you might want to consider changing doctors/practices. This horrible lack of attention and outright bungling screams of a poorly run office, and any doctor that is not aware of how his office runs probably wouldn't be one I'd want doing any sort of cutting on me.

Edited January 16, 201610 yr by FrankiesGirl

Wow. I am sorry you have had to put up with this. That last one is a HIPPA violation and they can get into serious trouble for that, both legally: fined by the government and also sued by you. Is this the best surgeon or is there someone else in your area that could use the work you've already had done and contineu from there? I wouldn't have any confidence in these bozos after all that!

Thanks for the comments. I did email her and told her how angry I was. She told me she didn't have that information in front of her and apologized. I told her while I understand that people make mistakes and it was not intention on her part but my confidentiality and HIPPA rights were violated. I further told her I hope they put some kind of policy in place to where this never happens again.

The reason I chose this surgeon is because he is VERY experienced. No surgeon I could go to came close to having his experience, which is having performed over 16, 000 WLS. I am ready to have surgery so I am conflicted about having to switch to someone else. I see the surgeon one more time before surgery.

Oh yeah I forgot to add something...my surgeon found some polyps and did a biopsy. He told me someone would call me with the results. That was at the end of October, I never heard from anyone. I would normally call myself but I was so disgusted with them. I hope if there was a problem they would have called me.

I'm just not sure exactly what i should do.

Change doctors ASAP!!! I know he is very experienced and we all want that, but he is not the only one around. Yes it may be difficult and a pain in the a$$, but I would never trust my care to a doctor whose office is run like a frog in a blender. This is a big surgery, but by no means is it neurosurgery. There are many well qualified docs out there. And yes, I have 40 years in as a medical professional. I feel the office is an extension of the physician. This is just my opinion however. Wish you the best!!!

The skill and success of the surgeon is the most important factor, but the office and support staff are important as well. You will typically meet the surgeon once or twice before the surgery, and then possibly never see him again after the procedure depending on how he structures his office. Most all of your follow up care will be delivered by his staff. Being comfortable with the support staff, including scheduling, billing, post-surgery care staff and nutritionists is very important to the overall success of your procedure.

Basically what I'm saying is that if you aren't getting good overall care before the surgery that should be a red flag as to what to expect after the procedure is done.

This is horrible!!

Please look into a new Bariatric program/Surgeon.

They sound like complete assclowns don't let them touch you

I'd suggest looking for a different surgeon/practice. If this is a preview of things to come, you're better off with the inconvenience of changing programs preop instead of later.