In our continuing series, we’re following a real GBO patient, Gio, from diagnosis all the way through treatment at Great Basin Orthopaedics. Be sure to check back for updates as we follow the journey, which is documented by his mother, Paige.
If you'd like to catch up:
- Read Appointment 1 here.
- Read Appointment 2 here.
- Read Appointment 3 here.
Appointment 4: June 22, 2020
The afternoon before our morning surgery, I got a call from Dr. Hayes’ scheduler Robin. There was some issue with “surgical coding criteria.” While it was frustrating on my end, Dr. Hayes and Robin were on it and I got the impression they’d done this drill before. Dr. Hayes had a one-on-one arbitration with the insurer to make his case for, you know, doing the surgery the way he — with his 25 years of experience and fellowship training in foot and ankle — saw fit to do it. He successfully got two more codes approved, but they were still rejecting a code, the part where he removes the scar tissue.
The surgery center bumped his surgery to the last slot of the day to give the team more time to try and get things squared away. It was quite stressful.