Anyone had wls at Kaiser?
Hi everyone,
First of all, I want to thank all of you that have taken the time
to post your experiences. You can never imagine how much you have
helped me in making my decision on having this surgery. I would
like to know if any of you have had surgery using Kaiser. I want
some information about the process.
Thanks,
~Gina.
March 24th, 2006 at 3:49 pm
Hi Gina,
From my understanding Kaiser does not cover WLS. I would check in your plan
book to see for sure or you can call the number on the back of your card and
ask them if medically necessary will you cover procedure code - 43846 (gastric
bypass) and the diagnosis code is 278.01 (morbid obesity). These are universal
codes and they should be able to tell you yes or no.
Jason
RNY 7/28/00
-160
>>> gina6972 07/30/03 01:06AM >>>
Hi everyone,
First of all, I want to thank all of you that have taken the time
to post your experiences. You can never imagine how much you have
helped me in making my decision on having this surgery. I would
like to know if any of you have had surgery using Kaiser. I want
some information about the process.
Thanks,
~Gina.
March 25th, 2006 at 3:27 am
I would consider adding the diagnosis codes for your co-morbidities, too, like
diabetes, hypertension, osteoarthritis, gerd, etc. They may not cover just
morbid obesity.
Pam
March 25th, 2006 at 7:03 am
Hi everyone!
Thanks for the information but I do know that Kaiser covers this
procedure. I have a appt next week for a Obesity Surgery Class. I
just wanted to know what my next step would be. I am dealing with a
PCP that has never guided anyone through this process.
Thanks,
~Gina.
March 25th, 2006 at 2:08 pm
Oh… well, usually, the initial step is to start the approval process. Most
surgeons and/or insurances will require a sleep study (for sleep apnea,
bloodwork, maybe an endoscopy, maybe a psych eval, maybe coming to a couple of
preop support group meetings. I would guess that Kaiser will require a
referral from your PCP, maybe a letter of medical necessity, for approval.
Once you’re turned over to the surgeon, you can find out what he requires.
Some surgeons require an initial weight loss, some do not.
Good luck!
Pam in Niceville