Cancelled fill appointmets

[Jeter2 0]

I was banded in mid-June, had a follow up visit a week later and everything looked good, although really nothing was done: I got weighed and asked a few questions. Insurance billed $250.00. I was then scheduled for a fill 4 weeks later, which would be 5 weeks post-op. About 40 minutes before my appointment (it takes me about 35 minutes to get to the office and I took time off from work), my cell rings and I'm told that they have to cancel my appt. because the person doing the fill had an "emergency". OK, things happen. They say they can get me in the following Tuesday. Ok, I'll be there. Tuesday comes along, again take time off and they ask me why I'm there, my appt. was scheduled for last week and I was a "no show". Wrong, I tell them, your office called and said I had to reschedule. Chaos ensues in the office and finally one office person admits the rescheduling "probably happened" after I told them I was told I was rescheduled because of an "emergency". They say if I can wait 3 hours, maybe they can fit me in. I was not happy, and it was apparent. So they tell me they'll call the surgeon over from the hospital and maybe if he's not busy he can do it sooner. I wait an hour, he shows up, and decides he won't give me a fill without using the fluroscopy, so I'll have to wait. Again, insurance charged $250.00 for office visit. I leave irate, and they say they'll call me with the fluroscopy info. The call comes and I have to wait another 3 weeks. So now we're up to the second week of August. I go into the hospital for the fluroscopy. I wait and wait, and then am told I have to reschedule, dr. has an "emergency". I come back the following week. The doctor says he'll give me a 3cc fill, and this will help keep my excellent progress going. So he puts in 1 cc, has me drink some barium, and says thats enough for now. wtf? I have no restriction. But not to worry! He says he's being cautious but I can come back in 3 weeks and get more fill from the nurse practitioner that normally gives fills. Another $250.00 from the insurance. The three weeks pass and guess what? I'm in the car, ready to go to the appt. and decide to call and make sure they're ready for me. Guess what? You got it, the fill person has had another "emergency" and I can not be seen. I asked "Were you going to call me, I live 40 minutes away and have taken more time off from work" Answer-- "I'm only the secretary and I don't have the time to call everyone, you'd have found out the appointment was cancelled when you got here." I was livid!!! I told her that my insurance had paid $750 since my surgery for 1 cc of fill that has given me no restriction whatsoever. I'm starving! I have missed hours of work and gotten babysitters for cancelled appts. My insurance paid about $15,000 for the surgery and I have lost a good amout of weight, but that they are paying for the follow ups and I expect appt. times to be kept. I told her about all the rescheduled appt's, etc, (which she didn't seem to believe so I told her to look it up in her recotrds) and her response - "Well what do you want me to do about it?" I said "Get me in for a fill". " Well I can't help that the NP scheduled to do your fill had an "emergency." Another emergency?!!! If this is true, I feel bad for the person with all these "emergencies" but it seems fishy to me. I had lost almost 30 lbs, but now have lost none the past month. I ask her "When can you reschedule me?" She says "I've had to reschedule a lot of people, so probably not until November, end of October at the earliest." I was fuming!!! Finally she says she'll try to push through another appt. w/ the dr., to do the fill under fluroscopy. She'll get back to me. I get a letter in the mail, giving me a fluro. appt. for mid October, at 6:45 AM, and I need to show up 45 minutes in advance. Now I need to find some one to get the kids up for school (my husband is a FF who works a 24 hr shift that day). Otherwise, I must cancel my appointmet and wait until November. I'm not happy, and will be furious if I get a baysitter for 5:30 in the morning and they cancel. Should I get another doctor's office for fills? Will another doctor even want to take me on as a patient when they didn't do the surgery? If I were the other doctor I don't know if I'd even believe my story! My surgeon was great surgery-wise, but the office and NP's never seemed that great. I am lucky that my insurance has paid every cent of my bills, no copays at all. But now when I look back I see they were paying $220.00 for pre-op visits where all they did was weigh me and ask a couple of questions. But I really don't want to contact the insurance because I don't want them to stop paying. What would you guys do? I feel like they got my $15,000 and now really don't want to be bothered. I don't have a fill center USA (is that what it's called?) near me so that isn't an option. Any opinions?

[Vickie 0]

I was banded in mid-June, had a follow up visit a week later and everything looked good, although really nothing was done: I got weighed and asked a few questions. Insurance billed $250.00. I was then scheduled for a fill 4 weeks later, which would be 5 weeks post-op. About 40 minutes before my appointment (it takes me about 35 minutes to get to the office and I took time off from work), my cell rings and I'm told that they have to cancel my appt. because the person doing the fill had an "emergency". OK, things happen. They say they can get me in the following Tuesday. Ok, I'll be there. Tuesday comes along, again take time off and they ask me why I'm there, my appt. was scheduled for last week and I was a "no show". Wrong, I tell them, your office called and said I had to reschedule. Chaos ensues in the office and finally one office person admits the rescheduling "probably happened" after I told them I was told I was rescheduled because of an "emergency". They say if I can wait 3 hours, maybe they can fit me in. I was not happy, and it was apparent. So they tell me they'll call the surgeon over from the hospital and maybe if he's not busy he can do it sooner. I wait an hour, he shows up, and decides he won't give me a fill without using the fluroscopy, so I'll have to wait. Again, insurance charged $250.00 for office visit. I leave irate, and they say they'll call me with the fluroscopy info. The call comes and I have to wait another 3 weeks. So now we're up to the second week of August. I go into the hospital for the fluroscopy. I wait and wait, and then am told I have to reschedule, dr. has an "emergency". I come back the following week. The doctor says he'll give me a 3cc fill, and this will help keep my excellent progress going. So he puts in 1 cc, has me drink some barium, and says thats enough for now. wtf? I have no restriction. But not to worry! He says he's being cautious but I can come back in 3 weeks and get more fill from the nurse practitioner that normally gives fills. Another $250.00 from the insurance. The three weeks pass and guess what? I'm in the car, ready to go to the appt. and decide to call and make sure they're ready for me. Guess what? You got it, the fill person has had another "emergency" and I can not be seen. I asked "Were you going to call me, I live 40 minutes away and have taken more time off from work" Answer-- "I'm only the secretary and I don't have the time to call everyone, you'd have found out the appointment was cancelled when you got here." I was livid!!! I told her that my insurance had paid $750 since my surgery for 1 cc of fill that has given me no restriction whatsoever. I'm starving! I have missed hours of work and gotten babysitters for cancelled appts. My insurance paid about $15,000 for the surgery and I have lost a good amout of weight, but that they are paying for the follow ups and I expect appt. times to be kept. I told her about all the rescheduled appt's, etc, (which she didn't seem to believe so I told her to look it up in her recotrds) and her response - "Well what do you want me to do about it?" I said "Get me in for a fill". " Well I can't help that the NP scheduled to do your fill had an "emergency." Another emergency?!!! If this is true, I feel bad for the person with all these "emergencies" but it seems fishy to me. I had lost almost 30 lbs, but now have lost none the past month. I ask her "When can you reschedule me?" She says "I've had to reschedule a lot of people, so probably not until November, end of October at the earliest." I was fuming!!! Finally she says she'll try to push through another appt. w/ the dr., to do the fill under fluroscopy. She'll get back to me. I get a letter in the mail, giving me a fluro. appt. for mid October, at 6:45 AM, and I need to show up 45 minutes in advance. Now I need to find some one to get the kids up for school (my husband is a FF who works a 24 hr shift that day). Otherwise, I must cancel my appointmet and wait until November. I'm not happy, and will be furious if I get a baysitter for 5:30 in the morning and they cancel. Should I get another doctor's office for fills? Will another doctor even want to take me on as a patient when they didn't do the surgery? If I were the other doctor I don't know if I'd even believe my story! My surgeon was great surgery-wise, but the office and NP's never seemed that great. I am lucky that my insurance has paid every cent of my bills, no copays at all. But now when I look back I see they were paying $220.00 for pre-op visits where all they did was weigh me and ask a couple of questions. But I really don't want to contact the insurance because I don't want them to stop paying. What would you guys do? I feel like they got my $15,000 and now really don't want to be bothered. I don't have a fill center USA (is that what it's called?) near me so that isn't an option. Any opinions?

Wow-- Bless your heart. You need another place to get your fills. What area are you in? Have you searched the internet? I believe this really happened to you because hospitals really mess up beleive me I know!

[Amethystjade 1]

it sounds like they are trying to take your money without giving you service. I would threaten to report them. Also talk to the manager of the place about the sect. person. Then after making a big fuss, find a better fill place! =( sorry

[Jodi_620 37]

I would definietly try to find another fill doctor. This is very wrong.

I would also report this to the insurance company. They are charging insurance for services that they are not even providing, I would think the insurance company would be very interested in this. As a matter of fact, my insurance company will give me 50% (up to $1,000) of any money recovered if I report something like this.

[bindi2203 0]

Get another Dr, you are paying for them to provide a service, one that you are clearly not receiving, dont waste any more of your precious time and money on them, they are obviously devoid of any form of common courtesy . they are here to help you with your journey offer support and encouragement, not sabbotage you and drain your motivation and hopes and dreams that you have for youself, and your family. i say GET RID OF HIM, and his fill practioner or what ever she was called. take care, and good luck with your lap band journey. jo.

[billfresh 0]

sorry about your problem. i'd look elsewhere as well. as far as fill dr's. depending on your area it can be difficult to find one. your dr knows this and that might be part of the laize-fare attitude from his office. go to www.obesityhelp.com and look under the heading, "find a surgeon". it brings up a map of the states. click on your state. it will list all of the registered dr's and also a list of names of other dr's. not registered from your state. i believe it also has contact numbers for all of them. print this out, and start going down the list. it can be time consuming but you might find someone. this is how i found my fill dr. i was banded in mexico so i needed a local dr before i committed to the surgery. also, start a thread here and on OB.com to ask others from your state about their dr's. one lady responded to me. said she'd ask her dr. was told to pass on the dr's number for a consult. this was a dr. that had told me they didn't do mexico patients but once one of his patients referred me they were willing to talk to me. i ended up elsewhere but it was nice having others close to my area asking for me as well. folks on this site are, for the most part, very willing to help their fellow fatties get skinny so ask around on here. good luck.

[maddy 0]

My doctor had flouroscopy machine in office, guess all are different.

Customer service seems lacking, but many doc will gladly serve you ,

good luck!

[magaines 0]

WOW!! What a mess. I would contact the Dr. office and insist that they either refund the insurance co for not providing the previous services or set up the next (is it two or three) appointments that they missed or screwed up on without charging to the insurance co.n then start looking for a new fill Dr. If they don't I would contact the insurance co.

Good Luck!

[bambam 0]

I work for a medical clinic and there is no excuse for not calling you to let you know your appointment needed to be rescheduled, or for having to reschedule that often. It sounds like your doc needs a more reliable person to do the fills.

I would talk with your doctor. It may be he isn't aware of how often your appointment has been canceled due to these "emergencies" - especially if it is someone else who is going to be doing your fills. If you are frustrated I'm sure he has other patients who are too and he needs to address the issue of why the followup care is being treated so offhandedly. Trust me the last thing he wants is unhappy patients.

I'm trying to remember if you had visits with absolutely no services received. If so, you should not be charged. Bring this up with him as well. His office should have made sure there was no charge and nothing filed with insurance if you received no services at all.

You really need to have a talk with your doctor IMO.

bambam

[MarySJ 0]

If your doctor's office is submitting claims to the insurance company for appointments that were cancelled - that's insurance fraud and you should notify your insurance carrier immediately.

Also, check with your insurance plan and see what other bariatric doctors are in your area that you could switch to.

Good luck to you.

[luluc 6]

bit of advise - find a new dr first before, calling the current one out or reaching out to insurance. it's not impossible, but many drs are reluctant to take on patients of other surgeons & if some do, they ask for an obnoxious fee upfront ($1000+) to handle aftercare alone.

take a look in the "fill & dr" forums for such discussions - or do a search here for drs in your area.....i would do that first.

i too live about an hr away from my dr. never once was an appt cancelled; i get an email confirmation the day before - followed up w/a phone call confirming my appt. i like a "paper" trail myself & email is great!

that is just TOO many emergencies in my opinion. i think aftercare is SO important. the surgery takes about an hr; the aftercare & fill management is what makes the lapband work.....good luck to you!!

[MADE IT 2 MY GOAL..OH YEAH 0]

Personally, first, I would call the insurance company and tell them what was and has been going on with that Doctors office. Then let them know that you really need to find a place to have your adjustments (fills) that can be trusted and see if they can give you the names of Doctors somewhere close to you and you call them, explain to them what is going on with the other Doctor and see if they will take you as a fill patient. Most likely, they will. If they do take you, I would call that Doctors office and give them a piece of my mind and tell them you have reported them to the insurance company. Who knows, you reporting them may make it to where they have to pay the insurance company back for the visits where you had nothing done.

You shouldn't have to be worried with this for any reason at all and I am really sorry you are going through this. Seems to me all they wanted was the money for your procedure and now they are finished. Wonder how many of patients of theirs have gone through the same thing with them?

Don't lose hope and keep your chin up.

[mnn2501 0]

While its possible to change doctors its not easy. I was in for a fill today and one women in the office was talking about having changed doctors (to mine). She had to talk with my doctor and get him to agree and then have her old doctor send all the records and even then, if something happens to the band my doctor ahas already told her she will need to get the old doctor to fix whatever it is.

I would schedule an appointment with your current doctor first and tell him exactly what is happening.

You might also ask what people who get their bands in Mexico do for fills, I believe there is a national company in the U.S. that handles after care and fills from what I have read on these boards, but knoe nothing about it.

[Laurinda 1]

I ditto all the above responses. If nothing else I would be talking to the office manager with all the dates in hand that you have been fluffed off. Good-Luck to you

** If you have this much trouble getting a fill what will happen if you run into a problem and need attention immediately?

[Jeter2 0]

Thanks guys. You kind of confirmed what I've been thinking. My husband keeps saying "find a new doctor", like it's that easy. I have a fill appointment with my actual surgeon in the beginning of October, so I'm going to keep the appt. and tell him directly what's going on. I know he's really busy -- maybe he just doesn't know how the office is being run. The hospital is right across the street from the bariatric center, and he spends most of his time there, and the fluroscopy is in the hospitals radiology dept., so he really hardly ever has to go "into the office". But your right, this is all unacceptable. I don't think my insurance is being fraudulently charged, because technically I guess they did "something" to charge for when they weighed me and talked with me, even though I've definately learned more from this board then from the office! I will say my surgeon is a nice guy, did excellent work. If my October appointment is cancelled, I'm done with them, though. I will call my insurance. I just worry if I get a new doctor who will do fills but won't do surgery if god forbid complications arise, then I have to go back to my present surgeon, that would make me very uncomfortable. And would my insurance pay if I had reported this surgeons office as fraudulent? Somebody asked where I'm located, it's in upstate NY near Syracuse. Now I've probably outed myself to someone from the doctors office that reads this forum! Oh well, it can't only be me having this problem with this office. And even though I may sound outgoing when I post, I'm actually kind of shy in person and easy going and don't like to rock the boat, so this is kind of hard for me to deal with, but it must be done.