Doctors and Insurance Issues

[Guest guest]

> How is [Dr. Ren] as a person, does she have a good

> " bedside manner " , how is her office staff, are they helpful,

especially with

> insurance issues?

>

>

Dr. Ren is very smart, very capable, very easy to get along with. I

have no question about her skill as a physician, and she is, really,

really, really nice. I met post ops in her waiting room who told me

that at critical points in their immediate recovery period Dr. Ren

never left their sides. That said, when I saw her over the summer

she was obsessed with the lapband, and she is extraordinarily

persuasive on its benefits.

I ended up changing doctors. I found her office to be singularly,

frustratingly unhelpful with insurance. I contacted her by email

after my consult to say that I wanted to go for the DS, and she

emnailed back and said, " I know for a fact that Aetna won't pay for

the DS " , and then suggested I make an appointment to discuss the

modification that she has made to the procedure. (How I was supposed

to pay for this was another story, I suppose.) And while it is not

true that she is not doing the DS, it IS true, apparently, that she

is dropping out of Aetna. I heard this from , her secretary,

myself. said she was supposed to send out a letter. I'm still

waiting for mine.

I think if you anticipate insurance trouble you had better be

prepared to get a lawyer. I don't think, frankly, you will get the

backup from her office that you will need. I read about other

surgeons getting on the phone to the insurance company and I have

never heard about Dr. Ren doing that. To her credit, that may be

because she is busy being a great doctor to somebody who's come into

the ER at 2 AM with a post op complication. THe problem is that in

2001, part of being a doctor is having to negotiate like a lawyer

with the insurance companies. During the time I was there nobody

from her office every contacted my PCP for information or support, as

opposed to the surgeon I saw MOnday, who asked about my PCP and when

I said she knew nothing about WLS, said, " she will be getting quite

an education before we are through " .

I may have fallen through the cracks. All of Dr. Ren's patients know

that early in the summer her insurance guy quit unexpectedly and it

took some time to replace him. All I know is that when I went

through an initial precertification and an appeal, nobody from her

office ever really showed interest in helping or supporting my

efforts. I would bet this has been rectified. In the end I came

away thinking that this was one great doctor with lousy

administrative support.

Hope this is helpful, ann. Good luck.