I’m curious how long everyone’s process took? Mine seems to be long from the time I finished all my requirements to get the paper lady at the office to send my file to the insurance (over 2 weeks), my file was approved in 3 days and now she said it will be 3 weeks before I even get a call to schedule my surgery and who knows how far they are booked out before I can even get surgery...

Mine took about 8 months from the initial consultation, including the 6-mo dietician requirement. They submitted to insurance within about 48 hours of my last dietician visit, insurance approved within 48 hours of that, and then they called me to schedule my pre-op appointment which was a week later. At the pre-op appointment, I got my surgery date, which was about 3 weeks after that. Hang in there!

I had a similar experience. I started the requirements in feb and had them done mid April. The scheduler called late May. Surgery is June 8. So about 4minths. I ended up calling the office manager bc I kept getting the run around and they called me to schedule that afternoon. After you get scheduled there are even more appts that need done! Mine were pre surgical class, pre op testing, surgeon appt, primary care appt and a covid test.
I hope they contact you soon!

I called the surgery center at the end of January and I'm being told I will have my surgery end of July or August... I have the last insurance required nutrition class June 4th, and I will still need to see my PCP, and I'm not sure exactly when I'll have a date. It's really been slooooowwwww. But I've taken the time to lose some weight, so that's good!

3 hours ago, BeaUTAHful said:

I’m curious how long everyone’s process took? Mine seems to be long from the time I finished all my requirements to get the paper lady at the office to send my file to the insurance (over 2 weeks), my file was approved in 3 days and now she said it will be 3 weeks before I even get a call to schedule my surgery and who knows how far they are booked out before I can even get surgery...

Mine was a little over 5wks from 1st drs appt to surgery date. This included insurance approval [my insurance did not require mandatory classes, weigh in's]. But, I did reach out each wk to the coordinator and ask about status of my case and ask if there was a cancellation, I would like to take the spot. Luckily, there was a cancellation and I happened to be in their office that day and they asked if I would be available the following week for surgery.

Be your own advocate! If you know who the center's director is, reach out. Squeaky wheel and all that. Let them know you are serious and are motivated. Good Luck! ?

My initial consultation was at the end of May 2019 and my surgery was at the end of January 2020 (January 23rd). So 8 months. It took them about three weeks to approve it after it was submitted, but my surgery was delayed a month due to them being over scheduled in December 2019 and so they shoved me into January lol

I think we're talking about a couple different things here: Insurance approval, and medical team approval. Based upon my experience, I'm surprised that some people are able to go from 1st consultation to surgery in under 2 months.

I guess certain medical organizations are more cautious and/or want to lay the groundwork for success. I was told up front that it would be at least 6 months before surgery would be scheduled, with regular consultations with dieticians, a full psych eval, and the requirement to lose X pounds prior to approval without any major re-gain, or I could be expelled from the program.

My initial consult was in July of 2019. In January of 2020 I was medically approved (insurance approval only took a few weeks and the medical team handled the entire process; I never had one interaction with my insurance) and surgery scheduled for April of 2020. Covid unfortunately interrupted everything and my surgery was canceled as all elective surgery was put on hiatus. Trying to keep from gaining weight while being locked down, dealing with the stress of a societal implosion and unrest and the uncertainty of damned near everything, when being predisposed to stress eating was... uhh... "interesting". Then in June of 2020 things were put back on track for a mid-July surgery date.

From the initial visit to surgery took 8 months. I had a 6 month supervised diet that began a month after my first visit. I finished everything in March and was scheduled for surgery 5/7.

My first surgeon visit was 12/2020 followed by my first PC supervised weight loss visit 12/2020. Endoscopy was 1/2021 along with blood work. Had psych evaluation and nutritionist appt in 3/2021. Last supervised visit was 5/20/2021. Insurance was submitted on 5/20/2021 and received the same day. My tentative surgery day is end of June/early July. So about 7-7 1/2months total. Did they say how far they are booked out? My surgeons office said about a month.

Edited May 27, 20215 yr by Anj0399

It took me about 3.5 months from the first meeting until surgery (which was two days ago). It was just lucky that I had an endoscopy and colonoscopy scheduled (unrelated), and my pap and mammogram. The psych eval and nutrition counseling were brief and uncomplicated, then I submitted my blood work. Insurance was a breeze, then I got my date.

Thank you all for the replies. I finished all my insurance requirements May 6th. My surgeon told me my file was complete and the insurance lady would submit to the insurance the next day for approval. Well she didn’t actually start the pre auth process for almost 2 weeks after that and MY INSURANCE company called me to tell me she never sent the clinicals and wouldn’t respond to their calls, fax, or emails. When she finally sent the clinicals I was approved the morning of the 3rd day. When I finally spoke with her after my approval she said she would send my info to the scheduler and she works out of a queue so it could be 3 weeks before I even get a call to schedule surgery which could be another month out. After speaking with some other patients in a support group my clinic provides they all say the same thing: the buck stops with the insurance lady.