I made a huge decision today....then it was shattered.
I scheduled myself to go to Michigan Head Pain & Neurological Institute on March 21st for an evaluation & their inpatient program.
Well I just received a call back to inform me it was denied by my insurance company.
So...I am asking you all for names of Headache Clinics.
Willing to travel anywhere...as long as my insurance is accepted.
I am waiting for return calls from Diamond & Jefferson Headache Clinics.
Already heard from Houston Headache Clinic & they also do not take my Aetna.
Damn HMO!
Help...help...help!
9 comments:
I go to the Headache Care Center in Springfield MO.
http://www.headachecare.com/location.html
I don't know if they have an inpatient program.
I also saw a headache specialist at KU Medical Center in Kansas City MO that interned at this center.
I know of a couple of people that go to the Jefferson Headache Center.
PS Jessica - you can always see if you can get a case manager (generally a RN) to help you - they can negotiate for services not offered in your HMO for out of network locations.
The Diamond Headache Clinic in Chicago has a decent inpatient clinic. Their outpatient sucks...all they do is give you drugs and lots of them, which you probably don't need more of. But the inpatient clinic is good at breaking that pain cycle with both drug and non-drug treatments (biofeedback, therapy, etc.).
Jessica,
I strongly suggest that you choose a specific doctor rather than a specific clinic. It's the doctor who will work with you and make treatment decisions, and that's what makes the difference. I keep a listing of patient recommended specialists at http://www.helpforheadaches.com/doctors/migraine-headache-specialists.htm.
I am having a difficult time finding someone to manage my care locally. I love my pain management specialist who used to work for MHNI. I was wanting to go there before I tried the ONS to get their opinion.
I have researched Dr. Krusz as well & thought maybe I should go see him & try his approach...as IV therapy works best on my head to break my pain cycles.
Teri...I have seen one of the physicians on your list...Dr. Maria Carmen in Tampa...however she did not try anything I hadn't tried before. I am just so ready to stop with the constant drugs and med combos!
Maybe ONS is the way to go!?!?
Fight it my friend, fight it! My insurance initially denied my upcoming surgery, but it didn't take much at all to fight them on it. Definitely do whatever you can to make them understand you need this!
Your post about your primary care physician made me so angry! You definitely deserve a better doc. I'm on my 6th neuro in 9 years; it's worth it to keep looking until you find one who will not just shove drugs down your throat.
As for recommendations, Duke has some pretty good neuros here in central NC, and there's also the NC Comprehensive Headache Clinic (http://ncheadache.com/) but it's not a well-known big place like Mayo or anything.
I so wish I could find your email addy somewhere (it's probably staring me right in the face). I have personal imput on the Michigan Program don't be too upset. I don't want to go into the details here, but what I have to tell you, will SHOCK you. How can I reach you to give you more details? I understand if you don't want any info too.
JS from IL
Hi JS...hopefully you will be checking here for a response, as I could not find another way to get back to you either! Haha!
My e-mail address is:
jessicakreese@hotmail.com
I would love to hear any info...good and bad!!!!
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