SilentBob

3 weeks is the standard time period for the referral to process, it will probably be 7 days or less though. You can check referral status online as well I believe. It will probably be three weeks before the letter gets to you but if you call your Tricare office sometimes they can get the referral approval #s and give them to you in case you want to speed things up.

Can anybody here recommend or know of a Surgeon that accepts Tricare Prime in North Florida. My PCM will give me a referral but I have to find one for him to refer me to, preferably in the Gainesville or Jacksonville area. I've tried teh search function to find one on this site or at least a lead on one. Tricare website breaks it down by general surgeons not bariatric. Plus, I would love to hear about the experience with the doc if anyone has any.

Are you near a Military facility? I think because I am Prime and live outside a Base/Station/Post service area ( I live in Palatka...:angry_smile:) I get a lil bit more freedom in my choices of who to see... My doc sent in the referral but TriCare hasn't authorized it yet..or at least I don't see it on the online approvals thing...

Well, They were about as helpful as I expected...Not very. They mentioned Dr. Cywes but also mentioned to me that they have him as a pediatric surgeon. I called his office, asked about Tricare, and they accept it. I have a consult next week! I will make sure at this appointment that they do indeed take tricare and I'll find out exactly what is going on before I commit to anything. Oh, the other providers mentioned were Dr. Jawad in Ocala and some other guy in St. Augustine ( don't remember his name off top of my head because I called and he didn't do lap bands yet just GB...)

Thanks! I will call Tricare!

TobeFree, thanks for the info... I did see that Dr. Cywes in J-ville is on the TriCare lists but he appears to be a pediatric surgeon. I have seen his name on these forums before but I'm pretty confused at this point. I live eqi-distance to J-ville and Ocala so the distance doesn't bother me, I just prefer to go to Jacksonville or Gainesville. THanks for the reply again...

Hello, I'm 36 years old and retired from the USAF. I got hurt in Southwest Asia and had to have back surgery. They saved my back but I had other complications with nerves in my legs and arthritis set in my knees as well. I was medically retired due to this and ever since I have gained weight in a hurry. I now weigh 100 lbs more than I did before my injuries. Due to my injuries I can't exercise at the rate I used to... Prior to May 2004 I ran 3 miles a day 4 days a week and occasionally 6 mile runs on top of those ( whenever my supervisors would decide to push us) now? Now I can only walk for 15-20 minutes and have excruciating pain in my back and left leg afterwards. I'm sure the weight just makes it worse which hurts the exercising efforts. Anyway, my insurance just announced ( or rather I discovered ) that they will cover Lap -Banding. I'm just starting out on this journey and found this site. Anyone in North Florida have TriCare Insurance and know of any docs that accept it?