Re: Cranial Tech in Austin vs. Star Cranial Center in San

[Guest guest]

My son has a starband and he has made wonderful progress. I was initially unsure of my decision to go with starband versus cranial tech, but ultimately chose the starband because I liked and felt confident with the orthotist, the star scanner seemed less intrusive and more accurate, and our insurance covered the starband.

From: mod_momma <shaunalmahany@...>Plagiocephaly Sent: Wed, July 7, 2010 5:06:25 PMSubject: Cranial Tech in Austin vs. Star Cranial Center in San

Hi All,My 5 month old son has been diagnosed with Postional Plagiocephaly. The last month we have seen a pediatric neurosurgeon been through xrays, ct scan etc and are now cleared for a band. All the sutures are open.(I will share more on our experience w that later.) When Elijah was measured a few weeks ago by our ped neurosurgeon, she told us that he was a full centimeter difference, measuring from back left to front right and vice versa. She wrote us a Hanger prescription but we already had a precription for Cranial Tech from our ped. We live in between San in Austin, and she said it was up to us where we went. It is very important to me to go to a place that specializes in cranial banding, so we went last week for our CT evaluation appointment. We found out 2 days later that our insurance was out of network and would only pay out at a lower percentage rate and only on the much lower allowable amount. In efforts to try to

get an exception made from BlueCross to pay in network, I came across Star Cranial Center of Excellence in San that just opened in April. I called with lots of questions and the receptionaist had Darren Poidevin return my call. He said that the doc band and Starband are very similar. He has been doing cranial banding for 8 years and was most recently traveling and training people on cranial banding. He wanted to answer all my questions and was very helpful and friendly. Evidently he works closely with ped neurosurgeon in SA. We go tomorrow for an evaluation. Oh and they are in network, and we would save a lot going there. That being said, I am not going to base my decsion on that. Can anyone and everyone please give me their experiences, and more than that if someone is knowledgable enough to help outline the differences in the docband and starband it would be so appreciated. I know there is a lot of love out there for the

docband, but I feel like that has me brainwashed a little. I just need to know the facts. Oh and CT said that my son would outgrow the docband in 8-12 weeks, and it is 50/50 on whether or not he will need a second. Amy at CT said he is pretty severe. I've been told that the starband can be worn up to 6 months, so we would only need one band for sure. Does anyone know if the progress is slower in the starband. I think that the foam is thicker. I do like the Star Scanner. Evidently they do scans throughout the process to take measurements and see 3d images of the progress. I keep hearing that with the starband it depends completely on the experience of the tech or orthodist.Thanks to all who can help me.Shauna

[Guest guest]

Hi Shauna,You have detailed my experience almost exactly. We went to CT in Dallas and it was only out-of-network with insurance, I started asking around and found someone that went to the same daycare as I did who went to Star Cranial Center of Excellence in Dallas for the same reason - CT was only out-of-network and Star Cranial was in-network. They had wonderful results and she was very happy. CT was going to charge me $3500 and Empire BCBS was only going to pay $700 so I was going to have to fight for that gap. I have had a few people contact me that did fight the insurance and win, however with Star Cranial Center of Excellence so close and they did only infant helmets, I felt like I was in just as good of hands as CT so we are going there in-network.I will say after having the consult with Star Cranial - I

actually feel more comfortable there. I had wonderful techs at CT that consulted me and wonderful techs at Star, but Star Cranial Center of Excellence seems to be a better fit for me. I was very adamant about the care only being infant helmets since I was in an area where I could choose - which CT and SCCE both satisfied. This is all new to me too - let me know if you want to talk about this, we are in the same situation I think. I do not yet have the band and was also concerned about the severity that CT told me we had - Star Cranial confirmed that severity so I felt better about that also. Good luck - it's alot of stressful info thrown at you very fast! From: mod_momma

<shaunalmahany@...>Subject: Cranial Tech in Austin vs. Star Cranial Center in San Plagiocephaly Date: Wednesday, July 7, 2010, 4:06 PM

Hi All,

My 5 month old son has been diagnosed with Postional Plagiocephaly. The last month we have seen a pediatric neurosurgeon been through xrays, ct scan etc and are now cleared for a band. All the sutures are open.(I will share more on our experience w that later.)

When Elijah was measured a few weeks ago by our ped neurosurgeon, she told us that he was a full centimeter difference, measuring from back left to front right and vice versa. She wrote us a Hanger prescription but we already had a precription for Cranial Tech from our ped. We live in between San in Austin, and she said it was up to us where we went. It is very important to me to go to a place that specializes in cranial banding, so we went last week for our CT evaluation appointment. We found out 2 days later that our insurance was out of network and would only pay out at a lower percentage rate and only on the much lower allowable amount. In efforts to try to get an exception made from BlueCross to pay in network, I came across Star Cranial Center of Excellence in San that just opened in April.

I called with lots of questions and the receptionaist had Darren Poidevin return my call. He said that the doc band and Starband are very similar. He has been doing cranial banding for 8 years and was most recently traveling and training people on cranial banding. He wanted to answer all my questions and was very helpful and friendly. Evidently he works closely with ped neurosurgeon in SA. We go tomorrow for an evaluation. Oh and they are in network, and we would save a lot going there. That being said, I am not going to base my decsion on that.

Can anyone and everyone please give me their experiences, and more than that if someone is knowledgable enough to help outline the differences in the docband and starband it would be so appreciated. I know there is a lot of love out there for the docband, but I feel like that has me brainwashed a little. I just need to know the facts. Oh and CT said that my son would outgrow the docband in 8-12 weeks, and it is 50/50 on whether or not he will need a second. Amy at CT said he is pretty severe. I've been told that the starband can be worn up to 6 months, so we would only need one band for sure. Does anyone know if the progress is slower in the starband. I think that the foam is thicker. I do like the Star Scanner. Evidently they do scans throughout the process to take measurements and see 3d images of the progress. I keep hearing that with the starband it depends completely on the experience of the tech or orthodist.

Thanks to all who can help me.

Shauna

[Guest guest]

- You are the first person that I have seen post about experience with one of the other star cranial centers. We used the one in land and had good experiences. I think that they are owned by the same person, but, of course, they have different orthos. I'm glad to see that the other star cranial did a good job for you.

As far as the original poster's questions (Shauna), there are differences between the two bands and you outlined some of them, the thickness of the foam, the time limit in one band. In addition, the doc band is supposed to be 6 ounces and the starband is 6 to 8 ounces. This is because of the thickness of the foam and the design of the band. The starband covers a little bit more of the head in many cases.

There are some people who feel that the doc band is a superior product, but I disagree. There are lots of documented successes with both products. The success of the product is really dependent upon the skills of the person who is doing the fitting and adjusting. Many people will claim that the techs at CT can do no wrong, but there have been a few cases posted lately that have me questioning that assumption. My daughter was older so CT was recommended to me, but I also had a better experience (during my preband conversations) with the star cranial location in land than my nearest CT location. Given that, and the recommendation of my cranial doctor, we went with star cranial.

So, with a good recommendation for a specific starband location, you are in as good of hands as you would be at a CT. I say that if insurance covers your starband option and not the CT option and you feel comfortable in your conversations with them, then you should feel okay about just going for it.

, mom to , 2 3/4

STARband grad May 2009

Chiro and CST

land

From: Crane <heathersmith310@...>Plagiocephaly Sent: Thu, July 8, 2010 1:05:55 AMSubject: Re: Cranial Tech in Austin vs. Star Cranial Center in San

Hi Shauna,You have detailed my experience almost exactly. We went to CT in Dallas and it was only out-of-network with insurance, I started asking around and found someone that went to the same daycare as I did who went to Star Cranial Center of Excellence in Dallas for the same reason - CT was only out-of-network and Star Cranial was in-network. They had wonderful results and she was very happy. CT was going to charge me $3500 and Empire BCBS was only going to pay $700 so I was going to have to fight for that gap. I have had a few people contact me that did fight the insurance and win, however with Star Cranial Center of Excellence so close and they did only infant helmets, I felt like I was in just as good of hands as CT so we are going there in-network.I will say after having the consult with Star Cranial - I actually feel more comfortable there. I had wonderful techs at CT that

consulted me and wonderful techs at Star, but Star Cranial Center of Excellence seems to be a better fit for me. I was very adamant about the care only being infant helmets since I was in an area where I could choose - which CT and SCCE both satisfied. This is all new to me too - let me know if you want to talk about this, we are in the same situation I think. I do not yet have the band and was also concerned about the severity that CT told me we had - Star Cranial confirmed that severity so I felt better about that also. Good luck - it's alot of stressful info thrown at you very fast!

From: mod_momma <shaunalmahany>Subject: Cranial Tech in Austin vs. Star Cranial Center in San PlagiocephalyDate: Wednesday, July 7, 2010, 4:06 PM

Hi All,My 5 month old son has been diagnosed with Postional Plagiocephaly. The last month we have seen a pediatric neurosurgeon been through xrays, ct scan etc and are now cleared for a band. All the sutures are open.(I will share more on our experience w that later.) When Elijah was measured a few weeks ago by our ped neurosurgeon, she told us that he was a full centimeter difference, measuring from back left to front right and vice versa. She wrote us a Hanger prescription but we already had a precription for Cranial Tech from our ped. We live in between San in Austin, and she said it was up to us where we went. It is very important to me to go to a place that specializes in cranial banding, so we went last week for our CT evaluation appointment. We found out 2 days later that our insurance was out of network and would only pay out at a lower percentage rate and only on the much lower allowable amount. In efforts to try to

get an exception made from BlueCross to pay in network, I came across Star Cranial Center of Excellence in San that just opened in April. I called with lots of questions and the receptionaist had Darren Poidevin return my call. He said that the doc band and Starband are very similar. He has been doing cranial banding for 8 years and was most recently traveling and training people on cranial banding. He wanted to answer all my questions and was very helpful and friendly. Evidently he works closely with ped neurosurgeon in SA. We go tomorrow for an evaluation. Oh and they are in network, and we would save a lot going there. That being said, I am not going to base my decsion on that. Can anyone and everyone please give me their experiences, and more than that if someone is knowledgable enough to help outline the differences in the docband and starband it would be so appreciated. I know there is a lot of love out there for the

docband, but I feel like that has me brainwashed a little. I just need to know the facts. Oh and CT said that my son would outgrow the docband in 8-12 weeks, and it is 50/50 on whether or not he will need a second. Amy at CT said he is pretty severe. I've been told that the starband can be worn up to 6 months, so we would only need one band for sure. Does anyone know if the progress is slower in the starband. I think that the foam is thicker. I do like the Star Scanner. Evidently they do scans throughout the process to take measurements and see 3d images of the progress. I keep hearing that with the starband it depends completely on the experience of the tech or orthodist.Thanks to all who can help me.Shauna

[Guest guest]

I have to totally agree with . If we would have lived a little bit closer I would have chosen the Star Band in MD over Cranial Tech in VA anyday. We ended up going with Hanger though since I wasn't happy with CT. Go with your gut and with your heart, not with CT just because everyone says they are the best....sometimes they are not.

From: mod_momma <shaunalmahany>Subject: Cranial Tech in Austin vs. Star Cranial Center in San PlagiocephalyDate: Wednesday, July 7, 2010, 4:06 PM

Hi All,My 5 month old son has been diagnosed with Postional Plagiocephaly. The last month we have seen a pediatric neurosurgeon been through xrays, ct scan etc and are now cleared for a band. All the sutures are open.(I will share more on our experience w that later.) When Elijah was measured a few weeks ago by our ped neurosurgeon, she told us that he was a full centimeter difference, measuring from back left to front right and vice versa. She wrote us a Hanger prescription but we already had a precription for Cranial Tech from our ped. We live in between San in Austin, and she said it was up to us where we went. It is very important to me to go to a place that specializes in cranial banding, so we went last week for our CT evaluation appointment. We found out 2 days later that our insurance was out of network and would only pay out at a lower percentage rate and only on the much lower allowable amount. In efforts to try to

get an exception made from BlueCross to pay in network, I came across Star Cranial Center of Excellence in San that just opened in April. I called with lots of questions and the receptionaist had Darren Poidevin return my call. He said that the doc band and Starband are very similar. He has been doing cranial banding for 8 years and was most recently traveling and training people on cranial banding. He wanted to answer all my questions and was very helpful and friendly. Evidently he works closely with ped neurosurgeon in SA. We go tomorrow for an evaluation. Oh and they are in network, and we would save a lot going there. That being said, I am not going to base my decsion on that. Can anyone and everyone please give me their experiences, and more than that if someone is knowledgable enough to help outline the differences in the docband and starband it would be so appreciated. I know there is a lot of love out there for the

docband, but I feel like that has me brainwashed a little. I just need to know the facts. Oh and CT said that my son would outgrow the docband in 8-12 weeks, and it is 50/50 on whether or not he will need a second. Amy at CT said he is pretty severe. I've been told that the starband can be worn up to 6 months, so we would only need one band for sure. Does anyone know if the progress is slower in the starband. I think that the foam is thicker. I do like the Star Scanner. Evidently they do scans throughout the process to take measurements and see 3d images of the progress. I keep hearing that with the starband it depends completely on the experience of the tech or orthodist.Thanks to all who can help me.Shauna

[Guest guest]

Yep, they are owned by the same person - when I was in there last month she said they were expanding. Forgot to add my 2 cents about STAR vs. DOC. I was nervous about STAR - it's not as popular and CT hates STAR and vice versa - just saying I couldn't get really honest opinions for them about the other helmet They are both comparable helmets in my opinion - they are active helmets and treatment is roughly the same. DOC will advertise that they only make helmets so theirs are superior because the manufacturer of STAR makes other products. I find this to be a weak claim - I work in manufacturing and there is no way a company that makes just one product can claim this makes their product better. The truth is both helmets are FDA approved - this was important to me. Both helmets have great results when serviced

by a well trained technician. DOC technicians go through the CT training and are PT or OT to start with. STAR technicians (at STAR Cranial Center of Excellence) are trained orthotists that are then trained on STAR band technology. We could argue all day about which one is better, but I felt more comfortable with the orthotist training than PT for the helmet. That's just my opinion, I didn't feel like the PT or OT would not do a good job - I was just more comfortable with the orthotist. The kicker for me came down to money - I hate to say that, but I just couldn't figure out which center was better since I was fortunate to have these 2 choices. The DOC band shelf life was 4 months and with DD's severity I just had this feeling that I would have 2 bands - and being out of network, that would be over $5000. STAR band has the 6 month shelf life and I felt that would be sufficient amount of time for treatment.

If we did have to have a 2nd helmet, at least it would be covered. Also - I liked the STAR scanner as well It was pretty cool to get evaluated like that and not just pictures and manual measurements. STAR also had diaper changer and diaper genie for me to use where CT had nothing. It's not a big deal at all - just the little touches that make you more comfortable helped my visit go more smoothly because at both places we had an unexpected blow out Never fails right? For what it's worth, I asked the person at SCCE why my ped only recommended CT and I had to find this place on my own - she said it was because CT has sales reps that call on the peds and the STAR center doesn't have that yet. I plan to ask my pedi why also - however I did talk to him after my CT visit and he had no clue they were so expensive out of network. He said he used to refer for a STAR band in the past and I

should go check them out also - the SCCE was not open when he used to refer for a STAR band though so he might not know about this place. I'm bringing it up at our next visit just out of curiosity. Sorry for the length Hope this helps! Let us know how your evaluation went!

From: mod_momma <shaunalmahany>Subject: Cranial Tech in Austin vs. Star Cranial Center in San PlagiocephalyDate: Wednesday, July 7, 2010, 4:06 PM

Hi All,My 5 month old son has been diagnosed with Postional Plagiocephaly. The last month we have seen a pediatric neurosurgeon been through xrays, ct scan etc and are now cleared for a band. All the sutures are open.(I will share more on our experience w that later.) When Elijah was measured a few weeks ago by our ped neurosurgeon, she told us that he was a full centimeter difference, measuring from back left to front right and vice versa. She wrote us a Hanger prescription but we already had a precription for Cranial Tech from our ped. We live in between San in Austin, and she said it was up to us where we went. It is very important to me to go to a place that specializes in cranial banding, so we went last week for our CT evaluation appointment. We found out 2 days later that our insurance was out of network and would only pay out at a lower percentage rate and only on the much lower allowable amount. In efforts to try to

get an exception made from BlueCross to pay in network, I came across Star Cranial Center of Excellence in San that just opened in April. I called with lots of questions and the receptionaist had Darren Poidevin return my call. He said that the doc band and Starband are very similar. He has been doing cranial banding for 8 years and was most recently traveling and training people on cranial banding. He wanted to answer all my questions and was very helpful and friendly. Evidently he works closely with ped neurosurgeon in SA. We go tomorrow for an evaluation. Oh and they are in network, and we would save a lot going there. That being said, I am not going to base my decsion on that. Can anyone and everyone please give me their experiences, and more than that if someone is knowledgable enough to help outline the differences in the docband and starband it would be so appreciated. I know there is a lot of love out there for the

docband, but I feel like that has me brainwashed a little. I just need to know the facts. Oh and CT said that my son would outgrow the docband in 8-12 weeks, and it is 50/50 on whether or not he will need a second. Amy at CT said he is pretty severe. I've been told that the starband can be worn up to 6 months, so we would only need one band for sure. Does anyone know if the progress is slower in the starband. I think that the foam is thicker. I do like the Star Scanner. Evidently they do scans throughout the process to take measurements and see 3d images of the progress. I keep hearing that with the starband it depends completely on the experience of the tech or orthodist.Thanks to all who can help me.Shauna