It will be one month from my RX date at the end of the week, and still no approval for my IVig infusions. Anyone know if there is a set time that a Insurance Company has to respond with approval or not. My legs continue to grow weaker. Frustrating to say the least.
Did you doctor give you a set schedule for your infusions? They should absolutely give you approval prior since it's so important to maintain a schedule. Are you using an infusion service that you can contact? I receive at home infusions through walgreens and they have been wonderful with contacting my insurance to push through approvals. If not contact your prescribing physician (I would assume your neurologist) asap and have them contact insurance. I'm sorry you are having to deal with the stress of jumping through hoops for your medication on top of everything else! I have been there & it's incredibly frustrating. Best of luck!
Hi Kelly. My Neuro ordered a 5 day loading dose, to be given monthly for 6 months. The infusion center is the one waiting for approval. I have spoke with them twice, and they were trying to get it pushed through. I also spoke with myNeuros office, but they did not offer much help. However, that was two weeks ago. I will start making calls again and hopefully get some answers. Thanks for the suggestions.
Definitely keep on them! It stinks that you have to worry about jumping through all of these hoops when you're already dealing with so much! I truly had to nearly harass them daily until I had my med delivery and nurse scheduled. Best of luck!!
Making lemonade said:
Hi Kelly. My Neuro ordered a 5 day loading dose, to be given monthly for 6 months. The infusion center is the one waiting for approval. I have spoke with them twice, and they were trying to get it pushed through. I also spoke with myNeuros office, but they did not offer much help. However, that was two weeks ago. I will start making calls again and hopefully get some answers. Thanks for the suggestions.
Yep,time to become the squeaky wheel. I just called the Infusion Center, spoke with the receptionist, and promptly routed to a care specialist and voice mail.....arrrrrrgh. Hopefully I will get a calll before I go to work. I also plan to stop by my Neuro's office and see if they can do anything.
Like you said Kelly, its all very frustrating, knowing that damage is being incurred, as I wait for treatment.
Kelly said:
Definitely keep on them! It stinks that you have to worry about jumping through all of these hoops when you're already dealing with so much! I truly had to nearly harass them daily until I had my med delivery and nurse scheduled. Best of luck!!
Making lemonade said:Hi Kelly. My Neuro ordered a 5 day loading dose, to be given monthly for 6 months. The infusion center is the one waiting for approval. I have spoke with them twice, and they were trying to get it pushed through. I also spoke with myNeuros office, but they did not offer much help. However, that was two weeks ago. I will start making calls again and hopefully get some answers. Thanks for the suggestions.
I'm with you waiting. It's only been two weeks. But, they have to get approval from Medicare first. They said that would not be a problem. Then, they have to get approval from Anthem, my supplemental. It seems like I read someplace that if Medicare says "yes", that the supplemental has to agree too. Does anyone know?
Jan, I feel like waiting is the glue that greases the gears of effective healthcare. I knew from my experience when my cidp flared up 7 years ago, that diagnosis and treatment can move at a crawl at times. I am typically a glass half full kind of guy, but it is hard when you can't get straight answers, and your health is in decline.
However, I am able to work, have supportive family and friends, and can do most things I choose. For those things I am grateful.
JanD said:
I'm with you waiting. It's only been two weeks. But, they have to get approval from Medicare first. They said that would not be a problem. Then, they have to get approval from Anthem, my supplemental. It seems like I read someplace that if Medicare says "yes", that the supplemental has to agree too. Does anyone know?
Whew, crazy 24 hours. I found out yesterday that my Ivig approval was denied by United Health Care. I went immediately to my Neuro's office to find out what I should do. They placed a call to UHC, and after 30 minutes of back and forth, UHC said they would schedule a "Peer to Peer" discussion between their staff and my Nuero.
I was totally surprised his morning when my Doc called needing some additional information. They also let me know a conference call had been scheduled for 11am.
I stopped by the Neuro's office on my way home from work, and was told my treatment had been approved. Answered prayer, and good job Neuro's office. Well done.
Congratulation on getting your approval! I'm still waiting and called the office again today. They said they have had a one day turn around and weeks, to one month. The insurance company reviews me tomorrow. Prayers and positive thoughts that the answer will be yes by the end of the day.
Making lemonade said:
Whew, crazy 24 hours. I found out yesterday that my Ivig approval was denied by United Health Care. I went immediately to my Neuro's office to find out what I should do. They placed a call to UHC, and after 30 minutes of back and forth, UHC said they would schedule a "Peer to Peer" discussion between their staff and my Nuero.
I was totally surprised his morning when my Doc called needing some additional information. They also let me know a conference call had been scheduled for 11am.
I stopped by the Neuro's office on my way home from work, and was told my treatment had been approved. Answered prayer, and good job Neuro's office. Well done.
Jan, I was really surprised to have it resolved so quickly .My prayer is that you also will have a speedy resolution.
JanD said:
Congratulation on getting your approval! I'm still waiting and called the office again today. They said they have had a one day turn around and weeks, to one month. The insurance company reviews me tomorrow. Prayers and positive thoughts that the answer will be yes by the end of the day.
Making lemonade said:Whew, crazy 24 hours. I found out yesterday that my Ivig approval was denied by United Health Care. I went immediately to my Neuro's office to find out what I should do. They placed a call to UHC, and after 30 minutes of back and forth, UHC said they would schedule a "Peer to Peer" discussion between their staff and my Nuero.
I was totally surprised his morning when my Doc called needing some additional information. They also let me know a conference call had been scheduled for 11am.
I stopped by the Neuro's office on my way home from work, and was told my treatment had been approved. Answered prayer, and good job Neuro's office. Well done.
Thank you so much for your support. It's so hard to wait.
Making lemonade said:
Jan, I was really surprised to have it resolved so quickly .My prayer is that you also will have a speedy resolution.
JanD said:Congratulation on getting your approval! I'm still waiting and called the office again today. They said they have had a one day turn around and weeks, to one month. The insurance company reviews me tomorrow. Prayers and positive thoughts that the answer will be yes by the end of the day.
Making lemonade said:Whew, crazy 24 hours. I found out yesterday that my Ivig approval was denied by United Health Care. I went immediately to my Neuro's office to find out what I should do. They placed a call to UHC, and after 30 minutes of back and forth, UHC said they would schedule a "Peer to Peer" discussion between their staff and my Nuero.
I was totally surprised his morning when my Doc called needing some additional information. They also let me know a conference call had been scheduled for 11am.
I stopped by the Neuro's office on my way home from work, and was told my treatment had been approved. Answered prayer, and good job Neuro's office. Well done.
So glad to hear it!!
Making lemonade said:
Whew, crazy 24 hours. I found out yesterday that my Ivig approval was denied by United Health Care. I went immediately to my Neuro's office to find out what I should do. They placed a call to UHC, and after 30 minutes of back and forth, UHC said they would schedule a "Peer to Peer" discussion between their staff and my Nuero.
I was totally surprised his morning when my Doc called needing some additional information. They also let me know a conference call had been scheduled for 11am.
I stopped by the Neuro's office on my way home from work, and was told my treatment had been approved. Answered prayer, and good job Neuro's office. Well done.
update: 6 weeks out from IVig being Rx'd, and still waiting. Currently, the holdup seems to be UHC designated my Neuro as the servicing provider on the approval,( who gets reimbursed for the Ivig) instead of the infusion center.They have to get UHC to reissue a corrected approval before they will order the IVig. Not sure why this takes more than week, but whats a little axonal loss among friends.
I got approved after a month and am headed to my first day of my first infusion. To some people, getting us approved seems like it's just a job. The person who does the approvals in my neurologist's office said she wondered why I didn't call her back. If she had really called, I would have absolutely have called her back. So, I lost a week there. I have a bad feeling that she didn't really go through both my insurance companies. I'll find out this morning. I hope you get through UHC. I don't think I'd want to know what my neurologist wrote to get me approved. I smell money for him, lots of money since he has his own infusion company who comes to his office. I hope this works for you and for me.
Making lemonade said:
update: 6 weeks out from IVig being Rx'd, and still waiting. Currently, the holdup seems to be UHC designated my Neuro as the servicing provider on the approval,( who gets reimbursed for the Ivig) instead of the infusion center.They have to get UHC to reissue a corrected approval before they will order the IVig. Not sure why this takes more than week, but whats a little axonal loss among friends.
The reality is we are a nameless face,given a case number, and routed to someones inbox. An administrative assistant shuffles through the filing process with little or no understanding of how our condition effects us, and heaven forbid if there is a mistake in the process, because that will require thought and effort to be corrected.This is my reality, hopefully not yours.
I left work this morning, as my legs and balance continue to weaken. I went directly to my Neurologist office, and asked for help. They called UHC while I was standing there, and literally had to restrain herself from yelling at the UHC representative. She told her 4 or 5 times that she needed to get the IVig provider changed on the approval, that the procedure is not done at the Neurologist office. The UHC rep could not (or would not) understand. She said it could take up to 15 day to get it changed. Finally my Dr''s assistant asked for a supervisor or someone who could expedite the request, and was told "they are in a meeting", but she would have them call back. My Ivig was rx'd on July 22nd, I am in Healthcare purgatory!
CIDP sucks, UHC sucks more.
Rant over.
JanD said:
I got approved after a month and am headed to my first day of my first infusion. To some people, getting us approved seems like it's just a job. The person who does the approvals in my neurologist's office said she wondered why I didn't call her back. If she had really called, I would have absolutely have called her back. So, I lost a week there. I have a bad feeling that she didn't really go through both my insurance companies. I'll find out this morning. I hope you get through UHC. I don't think I'd want to know what my neurologist wrote to get me approved. I smell money for him, lots of money since he has his own infusion company who comes to his office. I hope this works for you and for me.
Making lemonade said:update: 6 weeks out from IVig being Rx'd, and still waiting. Currently, the holdup seems to be UHC designated my Neuro as the servicing provider on the approval,( who gets reimbursed for the Ivig) instead of the infusion center.They have to get UHC to reissue a corrected approval before they will order the IVig. Not sure why this takes more than week, but whats a little axonal loss among friends.
It took me from February 24, 2015 till August 20, 2015 to get approved from my insurance company.
Good luck, keep bothering your insurance company, and make sure the doctor is following through with the appeals.
Thanks rocket, I will. The frustration is that they approved it but due to a clerical error on their part, they have opened a new case number as if it had not been approved. The box was checked as office, instead of outpatient on the approval form. Seems like it should be a simple fix, but evidently not.
Maddening.
Dear Lemonade,
Did you get your IVIG yet? Are they still all mixed up with paperwork? I had my IVIG for three days last week. I complimented the infusion nurse for getting me approved. I asked her how she got approval through two insurance companies. She wouldn't tell me, just smiled. I wish I could give you more information. Who knows what she really told them about me. I slept all weekend and have had two days of pain relief so far with one flare up in the middle. It's better than before!
I was talking to my friend who has IVIG infusions. She has the most expensive IVIG called Gammaguards (or that's the name of the company). My bottles said Octagon on it. Does anyone know if it makes a difference with which company that makes our IVIG?
Thank you.
Jan
JanD said:
Thank you so much for your support. It's so hard to wait.
Making lemonade said:Jan, I was really surprised to have it resolved so quickly .My prayer is that you also will have a speedy resolution.
JanD said:Congratulation on getting your approval! I'm still waiting and called the office again today. They said they have had a one day turn around and weeks, to one month. The insurance company reviews me tomorrow. Prayers and positive thoughts that the answer will be yes by the end of the day.
Making lemonade said:Whew, crazy 24 hours. I found out yesterday that my Ivig approval was denied by United Health Care. I went immediately to my Neuro's office to find out what I should do. They placed a call to UHC, and after 30 minutes of back and forth, UHC said they would schedule a "Peer to Peer" discussion between their staff and my Nuero.
I was totally surprised his morning when my Doc called needing some additional information. They also let me know a conference call had been scheduled for 11am.
I stopped by the Neuro's office on my way home from work, and was told my treatment had been approved. Answered prayer, and good job Neuro's office. Well done.
Congrats Lemonade! My Neuro's office was very good at keeping me informed on my status and appeals. He ended up doing a peer to peer also for approval. My insurance was the one I bugged like crazy, Pretty much about once a week, sometimes more. My next treatment is Friday. Thankfully I am getting home infusion and getting Gammaked. I am so glad the battle with insurance is over, and I am sure you are too!
Good luck, get healthy!!
Rocket, is there a difference in the type of IVIG?
Jan
rocketsmoke said:
Congrats Lemonade! My Neuro's office was very good at keeping me informed on my status and appeals. He ended up doing a peer to peer also for approval. My insurance was the one I bugged like crazy, Pretty much about once a week, sometimes more. My next treatment is Friday. Thankfully I am getting home infusion and getting Gammaked. I am so glad the battle with insurance is over, and I am sure you are too!
Good luck, get healthy!!