Posted by sailboat77 on February 3, 2012, at 12:37:50
In reply to TMS (8 weeks later), posted by sailboat77 on February 2, 2012, at 21:10:08
I want to add one more important thing. TMS is quite expensive and it's a long process to get your healthcare provider to cover it. I have BlueCross BlueShield and they always reject your initial submission. They will say something like, "TMS is an unnecessary treatment and not proven to be effective" (aka they don't want to cover it). My doctor said this is a bunch of baloney considering the FDA approved it as a legitimate treatment for depression in those who have shown resistance to prior medications.... 4 years ago.
Luckily, the TMS psychiatrist will have an assistant/nurse in the office who will operate the magnetic machine once the doctor has done all the hard work to locate the exact area to be targeted. The nurse is doing all the paper work for me and will submit a document that gives FDA proof that it is a recognized a treatment for treatment-resistant depression and gives details concerning prior medications/treatments that have previously failed. This gets sent to my insurance provider and once they reject it, at least a majority of the time they do, the assistant will write another letter appealing the rejection. This all takes time and you can expect anywhere from 6 months to a year before eventual approval. Then again, apparently BlueCross BlueShield is the worst insurance provider to get approved.
poster:sailboat77
thread:1009118
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20120202/msgs/1009164.html