Getting
An Appointment
Letter to Referring Health Care
Provider
RE: MMC Bariatric Surgery Program Referral (Gastric Bypass & Adjustable Lap-Band Surgery)
Thank you for including us in your patient's decision to lose weight and work toward a healthier lifestyle. If your patient meets the National Institutes of Health criteria (Body Mass Index of 40 or greater, or BMI of 35 with two significant comorbidities), they may qualify for surgical treatment for their obesity. MaineCare & Medicare require one comorbidity regardless of BMI. Other insurers make and change their policies without warning or notification.
We appreciate your and your staff's assistance in helping us streamline the referral and evaluation process:
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Letter of referral from the patient's Primary Care Provider (PCP). This referral is for an evaluation only. We submit insurance pre-approval for surgery after successful program completion. Please have the referral cover a minimum of 2 visits each with our Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), Dietitian (RD) and Surgeon. |
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A comprehensive health evaluation within the past 12 months. A recent History & Physical will help us pre-screen while providing medical clearance for surgery. |
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Demographic information (DOB, address, phone numbers, insurance). Please include HEIGHT & WEIGHT. |
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A recent CBC. |
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Gallbladder ultrasound if patient is pursuing a gastric bypass. Not necessary if patient desires LAP-BAND or gallbladder has been removed. |
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No-Smoking policy. If your patient is a tobacco user (including chewing), please help them quit, then obtain a nicotine level (blood or urine). After we receive a negative nicotine level, we will schedule their first appointment. Be aware that nicotine gum and patches occasionally produce false-positive results. |
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Documention of non-operative weight-loss efforts - Before approving surgery, most insurers require documentation of ongoing weight-loss efforts. Monthly PCP office visits (with recorded weights) for 3-12 months over the previous 2 years is the usual range. Failure to provide this documentation to insurers is another common reason for delaying surgery. |
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Deciding between operations - We offer both gastric bypass and Lap-Band operations, allowing most patients to choose for themselves. Any research and thought they can give to this decision will speed the evaluation process. The Internet is full of information, but these sites should be immediately helpful: www.lap-band.com, www.bariatricedge.com, www.asbs.org and www.cascobaysurgery.com. |
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Exercise - Exercise is essential to long-term success. We have our patients begin developing this behavior before surgery. Encourage them to begin now, whether it's scheduled walks in the neighborhood, swimming or stationary cardiovascular training. |
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Therapy - We require many of our patients to enter into therapy for three months before completing the program. This is one of the most common reasons for delaying surgery. If you have any suspicion that your patient has emotional eating habits, a history of anorexia or bulimia, childhood abuse or other conditions that could threaten long-term success, please help them begin therapy now. |
Once we receive the referral letter, H&P and demographic information, we'll send your patient a Welcome Letter with instructions on how to submit their personal information to us. Once we've reviewed that information we'll schedule their first appointment. Please note that our appointments are usually filled several months in advance. After the first appointment, it takes about 3 months to complete the program evaluation and get a patient to surgery, longer if the patient is delayed by any of the obstacles listed above.
We
are a national Bariatric Surgery Center
of Excellence. We
will continue to improve our program and the service we provide. Every member of
Maine Medical Center's Bariatric team is an expert in his or her role and
dedicates a great deal of professional and personal time and emotional energy to
the program. Lives can be ruined by bad operations (and sometimes even by good
ones), and long-term weight control depends on so much more than just a good
operation. We're committed to helping your patients achieve their goals. We think we're worth waiting for.
For patients who have already had surgery at other programs:
Our program's comprehensive follow-up care is hard to match and is often requested by patients who have had their operations done elsewhere in Northern New England. We will assume long-term care for patients new to the Portland area and will provide short-term care for anybody visiting or summering in Maine. We won't turn away anybody during a true medical emergency. Except on rare occasions, however, we cannot provide follow-up care for patients who had surgery somewhere else in order to avoid our waiting list or extensive evaluation process or whose primary care providers referred them there instead of here.
The
Bariatric Surgery Center
12 Andover Road
Portland, Maine 04102
(207)-761-5612
Toll-Free: (866)-268-9274
Fax: (207)-253-6073
These pages were created and are maintained by Casco Bay
Surgery, PA
Last updated 5/7/07