accompished something else on the begining of my journey... my consult is done!! I have the list of dr's to call... First this morning i will call my primary dr to get my approval letter. Do i just call these drs and say i am getting the lap bad and i need their approval??? What do i say??? THANKS SO MUCH .. sorry.. im trying to educate myself as much as i can :tongue2:

I chose my surgeon first. I had to go to my primary care doctor for a consult/approval letter along with bloodwork and an EKG which was ordered by my surgeon, it is better to wait until you get orders from your surgeon and get this done in one trip if possible.

Unless you are referring to getting a referral to see your surgeon. With my PCP, when I had HMO insurance, I would have to call and ask them for a referral to see a specialist. They would take down the information over the phone and then call me when the referral letter was ready to be picked up.

I would just say that you need a consult and exam when you are making the appointment. That's what they told me to do when I went for my consult. You don't have to say that you are having the surgery until you get there. Make sure you get copies of the all the reports and any letter the specialists might write to your surgeon just in case. If anything is missing when the time comes to submit it all it will delay the approval process.

Luckily for me I don't need any referrals. I probably wouldn't get much done quickly if I was constantly having to get referral notes from my PCP.

Good luck on the rest of your journey! :tongue2:

thanks amy... wow your near me on long island.... i made my primary care appt today for Oct 1... i dont need referrals... and oxford doesnt even require you go to a pumlmonary dr... but my surgeon does i guess... Have you been banded??