Surgery Preparation and Next Steps

NEXT STEPS ONCE SURGERY IS AGREED UPON

Once you and your surgeon agree on the need for surgery, it's important to understand the next steps.

• Tentative Surgery Scheduling: Your surgeon will provide you with a potential surgery date if it's not an emergency requiring immediate attention. They will inform you about the days and locations where surgeries are performed.

• Surgery Order Processing: The Surgery Order form is forwarded to our Surgery Scheduler. The scheduler will initiate the process after receiving the notes from your doctor's visit, typically within 24-48 hours.

• Insurance Approval: The surgery order is submitted to your insurance company for approval. This step also involves ensuring that the chosen facility is covered by your insurance plan. The time for insurance approval can vary, taking anywhere from 1 to 30 days, depending on your insurance carrier.

• Billing Review and Estimation: After receiving insurance approval, our billing department reviews your account. It's a requirement that all outstanding balances are settled before scheduling surgery. We also check if there are co-pays or co-insurance amounts due to the surgeon, and these will be collected from the patient before scheduling.

• Surgery Scheduling: Once your account is in order, our Surgery Scheduling Department will reach out to you to discuss potential surgery dates. Surgery times will be finalized two business days before the surgery date.

• Hospital Inpatient Scheduling: The Surgery Scheduler coordinates with the hospital to schedule your surgery, for inpatient surgeries.

• Preparation Appointments: Following the hospital scheduling, you might be contacted for several appointments to prepare for surgery. Depending on the case, this might include tests such as labs, EKG, or chest X-ray, or others.

Appointments with your Primary Care Physician and any Specialists managing medical conditions affected by the surgery.

• Post-Surgery Follow-Up: Lastly, there will be an appointment after your surgery to check in with your surgeon and monitor your recovery.

• Medical inquiries: For any medical questions related to your anticipated recovery, returning to work, or details about the recommended surgery, please contact our office. Kindly request to speak with our nurse or medical assistant. Visit this page to get the list of contact information for different surgery departments.

To learn more, visit our Surgery FAQ page.

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