I went to my PCP on Dec 15 to get the referral for a bariatric surgeon. We discussed my weight and how to best lose it, and she gave me the referral even though she is against weight loss surgery (for anyone). I have a three month diet requirement, and my bariatric surgeons program sets all of that up for me. My question though is whether I can use the Dec. 15th appointment as my start date of the three months, or do those appointments all have to be with same provider? I prefer to go a dietician for those three months and I will not be returning to my PCP for several reasons. I will be setting up a new one at the beginning of the year.

Obviously all plans are different, but my Cigna plan required 3 months of meetings with a dietician or a doctor's order for three months of a formal weight loss plan. I found out that going to Weight Watchers for the last two years didn't count, it would need to be doctor's orders.

So, in my experience, the three months would start with your first dietician appointment. Your bariatric office should be able to help you verify that, but that's how it worked for me.

I'm covered by Cigna. That first visit did not count. I had to do basically 4 months even though it said 3 months supervised weight loss.

HW 330
SW 292
CW 185
GW below 200

I also had Cigna and that first appointment didn't count.