My husband and I were very impressed by the office, the staff, and the doctor himself. I'm not in terrible pain, but we have documented evidence that I progressed significantly in 20 years, and it's a good idea to have the surgery. They seem to think that I'm a 'simple' case because I'm pretty flexible, and that he could get a pretty good correction. THey re-took full set of Xrays because the ones from Dr. Dumbell's office here in NJ were fuzzy and terrible.
Turns out Dr. Dumbell and his colleague 'teacher' were both fellows in Doctor Neuwirth's office, and Dr. Dumbell only graduated a year ago. The Nurse Practitioner couldn't believe that he told me that no one would touch me and did I want pain meds, come back in one year please? WhatEVER. Looks like I made a good call in my thoughts that he will not touch me no matter what.
Dr. N. said that He would fuse T3 to L3 or L4. I would only be in the hospital 5-6 days, and have a 3-4 month recovery. He wants to avoid going to the sacrum to leave me some mobility.
After Dr. N left us, we spoke more with the NP and we asked about taking the Xrays for our appointment with Dr. Boachie on 6/5. She said that we were absolutly right to see these 2 doctors, and we made arrangements to go pick up the Xrays the same morning of the other appointment.
What is worrying me again is the financial aspect of this whole thing. Dr. Neuwirth and the hospital are IN our insurance netowrk, and Dr. B and the Hospital for Special Surgeries are OUT. We do have out of network coverage, but we would have to pay above the 'reasonable & customary'. I called HSS this afternoon to ask, and there is no 'forgiveness' for any of the debt, they have payment plans and charge 9% interest. I was a little surprised at the interest part. I can't even begin to think how much this will cost us. Do you mind explaining how any of you who had Dr. B and HSS handled the financial part?
This past week I found an article http://health.usnews.com/usnews/heal...?spec=ihqorth&
saying that for orthopedics, HSS is #1 in the country. How could I possibly go anywhere else? But how on earth will I pay?
Sigh.......I wish this were an easier decision. I know I want the surgery, the question is who should I pick?
Thanks for listening to me ramble.
Turns out Dr. Dumbell and his colleague 'teacher' were both fellows in Doctor Neuwirth's office, and Dr. Dumbell only graduated a year ago. The Nurse Practitioner couldn't believe that he told me that no one would touch me and did I want pain meds, come back in one year please? WhatEVER. Looks like I made a good call in my thoughts that he will not touch me no matter what.
Dr. N. said that He would fuse T3 to L3 or L4. I would only be in the hospital 5-6 days, and have a 3-4 month recovery. He wants to avoid going to the sacrum to leave me some mobility.
After Dr. N left us, we spoke more with the NP and we asked about taking the Xrays for our appointment with Dr. Boachie on 6/5. She said that we were absolutly right to see these 2 doctors, and we made arrangements to go pick up the Xrays the same morning of the other appointment.
What is worrying me again is the financial aspect of this whole thing. Dr. Neuwirth and the hospital are IN our insurance netowrk, and Dr. B and the Hospital for Special Surgeries are OUT. We do have out of network coverage, but we would have to pay above the 'reasonable & customary'. I called HSS this afternoon to ask, and there is no 'forgiveness' for any of the debt, they have payment plans and charge 9% interest. I was a little surprised at the interest part. I can't even begin to think how much this will cost us. Do you mind explaining how any of you who had Dr. B and HSS handled the financial part?
This past week I found an article http://health.usnews.com/usnews/heal...?spec=ihqorth&
saying that for orthopedics, HSS is #1 in the country. How could I possibly go anywhere else? But how on earth will I pay?
Sigh.......I wish this were an easier decision. I know I want the surgery, the question is who should I pick?
Thanks for listening to me ramble.
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