New-Deco, Tort, Insurance Q's

[Guest guest]

Hi all! I'm new to the board. I just brought my son to Dr. Persing at Yale in

New Haven, CT. He was great, much better than the first neurosurgeon we saw in

CT, who's name I won't mention. I'll just say that if you are looking for a

craniofacial doctor in CT, I recommend Yale.

Anyway, my son Caleb will be 9 months in a couple days. I brought him to Cranial

Tech last week, and he has 11 mm cranial vault assymetry, facial and ear

assymetry, and torticollis. We are doing neck stretches and are going to do the

DOC band.

So, here are my questions:

1. Does anybody have suggestions about whether to continue doing the neck

exercises the Cranial Tech PT showed us on our own or find a regular PT in

addition to this? I'm thinking right now that, since the folks at Cranial Tech

are PT's and we will visit every 2 weeks, we don't need a separate PT.

2. Has anyone not had complete success with the PT stretches? My son is very set

in his ways. Though we have been doing the stretches for a few weeks (started on

my own before we went to Cranial Tech) and he seems to be getting used to the

routine, he is an avid left thumb sucker, and I'm afraid we will have trouble

correcting his torticollis. He is old enough to " fight back " and put himself in

whatever position he wants to be in while he sleeps, in his car seat, etc. At

what point should we seek another consultation? What kind of doctor should we go

to for this if needed?

3. Has anyone had success with painting over previous layers of paint on a DOC

band? I have two decoration ideas: Red Sox with dark blue paint, and a race car

theme with black paint. I want to switch the decorations half way through the

three months. Do I just remove the stickers and paint over the previous paint

job? Prime over it? Try to peel the last paint job off first?

4. How long will the acrylic paint last before it starts chipping off and

looking bad? My son is learning to walk now, so I'm expecting the helmet to get

banged up a lot.

5. My insurance is through Empire BC/BS. So far, it appears that they will cover

treatment through Cranial Tech, but they set the " reasonable and customary "

price at $650-750 " for my area " (Connecticut) as the insurance rep. said. $700

is the amount of my deductible, so insurance wouldn't pay a thing! As far as I'm

concerned, that is the same as denying coverage since I can't get treatment for

that amount. Cranial Tech is the only provider in CT, and they charge $3,800.

Has anyone had luck fighting insurance on the " reasonable and customary " amount?

Sorry to make this so long! Thanks so much!

[Guest guest]

Welcome!-

I don't think it would hurt to get an official evaluation from an outside PT

just to be sure you're treating the tort as effectively as possible. Although

maybe someone else can chime in on that one, because my son's tort was resolved

by the time he was treated at CT, so we weren't doing stretches at that time.

The stretches should resolve the tort eventually, it just depends on how severe

it is and how dilligent you are in doing them. Again, someone else might have a

better idea of how long it might take - my son's tort was treated very early at

2 months old, and was resolved by the time he was 6 months old. I do think the

older they are, the longer it might take, but it should definitely get better.

My son wore 2 DOCBands and had about 10 or 12 different paint jobs total. You

just peel the paint off, give it a good cleaning with rubbing alcohol and start

over. You'll have to use 4-6 layers of paint and mod podge combined (especially

with dark colors), so it will peel off pretty easily (I had fun trying to peel

the whole thing off in one big piece). I had to change paint/designs every 3

weeks. You can do touch ups but it eventually starts to look faded and chipped

and I would be ready for a change by then.

Unfortunately, I can't answer your last question. I have BCBS but it's the

federal employee program so is a little different, plus I live in NC and CT was

covered 75% for me. Hopefully someone else can answer that part for you.

Good luck!

Jake-3.5 (DOCBand Grad 9/08)

Raleigh, NC

>

> Hi all! I'm new to the board. I just brought my son to Dr. Persing at Yale in

New Haven, CT. He was great, much better than the first neurosurgeon we saw in

CT, who's name I won't mention. I'll just say that if you are looking for a

craniofacial doctor in CT, I recommend Yale.

>

> Anyway, my son Caleb will be 9 months in a couple days. I brought him to

Cranial Tech last week, and he has 11 mm cranial vault assymetry, facial and ear

assymetry, and torticollis. We are doing neck stretches and are going to do the

DOC band.

>

> So, here are my questions:

> 1. Does anybody have suggestions about whether to continue doing the neck

exercises the Cranial Tech PT showed us on our own or find a regular PT in

addition to this? I'm thinking right now that, since the folks at Cranial Tech

are PT's and we will visit every 2 weeks, we don't need a separate PT.

> 2. Has anyone not had complete success with the PT stretches? My son is very

set in his ways. Though we have been doing the stretches for a few weeks

(started on my own before we went to Cranial Tech) and he seems to be getting

used to the routine, he is an avid left thumb sucker, and I'm afraid we will

have trouble correcting his torticollis. He is old enough to " fight back " and

put himself in whatever position he wants to be in while he sleeps, in his car

seat, etc. At what point should we seek another consultation? What kind of

doctor should we go to for this if needed?

> 3. Has anyone had success with painting over previous layers of paint on a DOC

band? I have two decoration ideas: Red Sox with dark blue paint, and a race car

theme with black paint. I want to switch the decorations half way through the

three months. Do I just remove the stickers and paint over the previous paint

job? Prime over it? Try to peel the last paint job off first?

> 4. How long will the acrylic paint last before it starts chipping off and

looking bad? My son is learning to walk now, so I'm expecting the helmet to get

banged up a lot.

> 5. My insurance is through Empire BC/BS. So far, it appears that they will

cover treatment through Cranial Tech, but they set the " reasonable and

customary " price at $650-750 " for my area " (Connecticut) as the insurance rep.

said. $700 is the amount of my deductible, so insurance wouldn't pay a thing! As

far as I'm concerned, that is the same as denying coverage since I can't get

treatment for that amount. Cranial Tech is the only provider in CT, and they

charge $3,800. Has anyone had luck fighting insurance on the " reasonable and

customary " amount?

>

> Sorry to make this so long! Thanks so much!

>

>

[Guest guest]

thanks

> >

> > Hi all! I'm new to the board. I just brought my son to Dr. Persing at Yale

in New Haven, CT. He was great, much better than the first neurosurgeon we saw

in CT, who's name I won't mention. I'll just say that if you are looking for a

craniofacial doctor in CT, I recommend Yale.

> >

> > Anyway, my son Caleb will be 9 months in a couple days. I brought him to

Cranial Tech last week, and he has 11 mm cranial vault assymetry, facial and ear

assymetry, and torticollis. We are doing neck stretches and are going to do the

DOC band.

> >

> > So, here are my questions:

> > 1. Does anybody have suggestions about whether to continue doing the neck

exercises the Cranial Tech PT showed us on our own or find a regular PT in

addition to this? I'm thinking right now that, since the folks at Cranial Tech

are PT's and we will visit every 2 weeks, we don't need a separate PT.

> > 2. Has anyone not had complete success with the PT stretches? My son is very

set in his ways. Though we have been doing the stretches for a few weeks

(started on my own before we went to Cranial Tech) and he seems to be getting

used to the routine, he is an avid left thumb sucker, and I'm afraid we will

have trouble correcting his torticollis. He is old enough to " fight back " and

put himself in whatever position he wants to be in while he sleeps, in his car

seat, etc. At what point should we seek another consultation? What kind of

doctor should we go to for this if needed?

> > 3. Has anyone had success with painting over previous layers of paint on a

DOC band? I have two decoration ideas: Red Sox with dark blue paint, and a race

car theme with black paint. I want to switch the decorations half way through

the three months. Do I just remove the stickers and paint over the previous

paint job? Prime over it? Try to peel the last paint job off first?

> > 4. How long will the acrylic paint last before it starts chipping off and

looking bad? My son is learning to walk now, so I'm expecting the helmet to get

banged up a lot.

> > 5. My insurance is through Empire BC/BS. So far, it appears that they will

cover treatment through Cranial Tech, but they set the " reasonable and

customary " price at $650-750 " for my area " (Connecticut) as the insurance rep.

said. $700 is the amount of my deductible, so insurance wouldn't pay a thing! As

far as I'm concerned, that is the same as denying coverage since I can't get

treatment for that amount. Cranial Tech is the only provider in CT, and they

charge $3,800. Has anyone had luck fighting insurance on the " reasonable and

customary " amount?

> >

> > Sorry to make this so long! Thanks so much!

> >

> >

>