New Program Fee

[ladyB 0]

I was approved for the lap band last month. I have Cigna and it took months for me to get approved. The hold up was the "center of excellence".

I found a dr in the dfw area that was a center of excellence. I made an appointment with them asap. They had all my paper work before I even got there..all they needed was an approval code to schedule me for surgery.

I went to the appointment and was seen by the dr for a few minutes then a nurse (at least I think she was a nurse). She spoke to me a few more minutes and then told me that she would be submitting my paper work asap. This dr did NOT require me to lose ten pounds or do an pre-op diet. When I went to pay for my visit I gave my credit card. The nursereceptinist then stated that I needed to attend a class and the fee would be 300 dollars. I asked what was it for and she said it was for 8 hours for two days (I think). I asked her if it was Cigna approved and she said no. I asked if it was at a hospital site and she said no. I then asked what it did entail. She said it was quite a bit of information on what to expect from the lap band. How to eat and what to expect. So I asked why was I not told about this as none of the other facilities have this fee. She said she did not know. I was a little put off by this. IF your going to spend 300 bucks and it is MANDATORY ( as she stated it was) YOU should be told this before you get there and not afterwards. There are about 5 to 7 center of excellence in the DFW area. None of them charge this fee.

I called the dr office the next morning and canceled my surgery with them. I called Ut southwestern and they assured me that they do not charge a fee. I called the dr office back that wanted the 300.00 fee and suggested that they advise people that there is such a fee. The receptionist said that she would do so going forward, but I did not feel comfortable going with this dr. You gotta know that this a significant amount of money and if is so very important why does Cigna or any health care providers pay for it? I was uneasy about it and when I went to UT southwestern, they did everything right there on the spot. Everything is included in my surgery ....no fees for paper work or nutrition.