My last nutritionist appointment was 23 days ago. I recieved a surgery date of October 6th, and I was under the assumption my paperwork would be submitted that week. I called the surgeons office today for an update and she said they will submit closer to the surgery date, "in about two weeks". Is this a normal time frame? I get more approval anxiety by the day! My pre-op EKG and labs appointment is scheduled for September 12th but they're not even submitting my claim until around that time? My patience is running low ?‍??

I'm not sure there is any "normal" for this. My team took about a month to submit for approval and wouldn't even schedule the surgery until we had the approval back.

That sounds about right. Actually I scheduled my surgery (aug 16th) at my July 21st appointment. And it was like 7-12 days before my surgery that I saw a paper approval for the surgery.

These programs submit electronically, are used to dealing with most of the insurances they deal with and they are good at what they do.

Unless they expressed a concern or a restriction to you - I wouldn’t worry.

Thanks for the reassurance!

That’s really cool that you get scheduled before the insurance approves it (sorta) my dr won’t schedule the surgery until it’s approved. Best of luck to you! ??

That’s really cool that you get scheduled before the insurance approves it (sorta) my dr won’t schedule the surgery until it’s approved. Best of luck to you! [emoji1316]

Thank you! I think I'd prefer getting a date after approval because the what if factor is wrecking my nerves. Each day we get closer to October 6th I'm like "okay is this really going to happen?" [emoji51]

My last nutrition appointment was on Aug 31. My Doctor's office said they would submit to insurance after my Doctor was done with his notes. Sometime between that afternoon and close of business the next day. But they did warn me that the insurance company my not even get to it until this past tuesday, 9/6 due to labor day. But, before I left on the 31st I was scheduled for my last pre-surgery appointment for blood work and chest xray. As well as, my surgery date of Oct 3rd pending insurance approval to have it done at the surgery center. If not approved for surgery center and insurance wants it done at Hospital my date will be adjusted. I start my 14 day liquid diet on 9/19 based on the 10/3 surgery date. I really hope I get an approval before the 19th that way I am not on the pre-surgery diet longer.

3 minutes ago, FireWife81 said:

My last nutrition appointment was on Aug 31. My Doctor's office said they would submit to insurance after my Doctor was done with his notes. Sometime between that afternoon and close of business the next day. But they did warn me that the insurance company my not even get to it until this past tuesday, 9/6 due to labor day. But, before I left on the 31st I was scheduled for my last pre-surgery appointment for blood work and chest xray. As well as, my surgery date of Oct 3rd pending insurance approval to have it done at the surgery center. If not approved for surgery center and insurance wants it done at Hospital my date will be adjusted. I start my 14 day liquid diet on 9/19 based on the 10/3 surgery date. I really hope I get an approval before the 19th that way I am not on the pre-surgery diet longer.

Good luck on approval! They still haven't submitted my paperwork to insurance. I thought for sure they would have on the 6th, because that would give insurance their "30 day approval" period, but there are still no claims pending on my insurance account ?

I guess we just keep chugging along with the mindset that we've been approved already. It's hard because I like to prep and control everything in advance and this one is totally out of my power. My pre-op testing appointment is in 4 days.

Hoping we both hear something positive by the end of this week!

Just want to update and say they finally submitted my case to insurance today. Hoping it's approved quickly and with no issues![emoji1696][emoji120]

My surgeon's office submitted it to my insurance, got the approval back in 48 hours, and then called me to schedule the surgery (it was 2 weeks out because the surgeon was booked). Given that insurance companies can take between 2-30 days for approval (or deny and then there's an appeal and all that) I would be leery if a surgeon scheduled me before they had the insurance approval first.

If your surgery didn’t go on and they couldn’t fill your slot the surgeon would lose a huge chunk of money. Because of that I seriously doubt they would schedule you unless they were very certain you were going to be approved. I know it’s hard but try not to worry about it. Just remind yourself of how many times you have worried needlessly about things that worked out Just fine (I know I’ve done my fair share).

Mine took nearly two months (no kidding) to submit to insurance after my final appointment. Took insurance a calendar week to approve it. Then it took 4-5 months to schedule my surgery for 2-3 months later. It’s been so long I’m ready to get this over with lol

If your surgery didn’t go on and they couldn’t fill your slot the surgeon would lose a huge chunk of money. Because of that I seriously doubt they would schedule you unless they were very certain you were going to be approved. I know it’s hard but try not to worry about it. Just remind yourself of how many times you have worried needlessly about things that worked out Just fine (I know I’ve done my fair share).

That makes sense! Thanks for the encouragement, it's all too easy to psych ourselves out and expect the worst. I am going to call today to see if there's any update before the weekend.

Mine took nearly two months (no kidding) to submit to insurance after my final appointment. Took insurance a calendar week to approve it. Then it took 4-5 months to schedule my surgery for 2-3 months later. It’s been so long I’m ready to get this over with lol

Oh my! Are you close to your surgery date yet?

Mine did it within a week of my first visit.

A week after they submitted to insurance and it's still "pending" [emoji17]