WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11th, 2019
Lots of phone call today, but finally some progress being made.
I spoke to our insurance coordinator today and the agreement is now back being reviewed by our insurance. It seems like these negotiations could go on forever, and no one knows if there's an end in sight. On Monday, Dr. Shah mentioned potentially sending Chris to Northwestern Hospital or University of Chicago for CAR-T if things would move faster for him that way. According to our care coordinator, our insurance has contracts with both of those hospitals and they believe the negotiations would be less complicated there.
I emailed Dr. Shah today with all of this information and he immediately called Chris. He said that he thinks we should give Froedtert until Friday to get the letter of agreement signed. If Froedtert and our insurance can't come to an agreement by Friday or get Chris scheduled for apheresis sometime next week he will send us to Northwestern.
Dr. Shah has an old colleague at Northwestern who is willing to treat Chris for therapy. Her name is Dr. Reem Karmali. Northwestern scheduling called us today to register Chris and should be calling us by close of business tomorrow to schedule an appointment to see Dr. Karmali next week in the event that Froedtert falls through.
The only complication of Chris getting CAR-T at Northwestern would be that he would be in the hospital there for 14 days to be monitored after receiving chemo and his T-cells, and would have to remain in the area around the hospital for another 14 days after being an inpatient. So 28 days in Illinois. This is standard for CAR-T cell therapy. He could then resume treatment with Dr. Shah after the 28 day monitoring period.
It would suck, but at least we could start the process now.
Dr. Shah also shared his plan and intentions with the people at Froedtert that deal with insurance in the hopes that the thought of losing a patient for this type of procedure would get the wheel moving faster. Hopefully, this will be the case and Northwestern will just be a back up, but we're glad that there is a plan in place regardless.
V
Lots of phone call today, but finally some progress being made.
I spoke to our insurance coordinator today and the agreement is now back being reviewed by our insurance. It seems like these negotiations could go on forever, and no one knows if there's an end in sight. On Monday, Dr. Shah mentioned potentially sending Chris to Northwestern Hospital or University of Chicago for CAR-T if things would move faster for him that way. According to our care coordinator, our insurance has contracts with both of those hospitals and they believe the negotiations would be less complicated there.
I emailed Dr. Shah today with all of this information and he immediately called Chris. He said that he thinks we should give Froedtert until Friday to get the letter of agreement signed. If Froedtert and our insurance can't come to an agreement by Friday or get Chris scheduled for apheresis sometime next week he will send us to Northwestern.
Dr. Shah has an old colleague at Northwestern who is willing to treat Chris for therapy. Her name is Dr. Reem Karmali. Northwestern scheduling called us today to register Chris and should be calling us by close of business tomorrow to schedule an appointment to see Dr. Karmali next week in the event that Froedtert falls through.
The only complication of Chris getting CAR-T at Northwestern would be that he would be in the hospital there for 14 days to be monitored after receiving chemo and his T-cells, and would have to remain in the area around the hospital for another 14 days after being an inpatient. So 28 days in Illinois. This is standard for CAR-T cell therapy. He could then resume treatment with Dr. Shah after the 28 day monitoring period.
It would suck, but at least we could start the process now.
Dr. Shah also shared his plan and intentions with the people at Froedtert that deal with insurance in the hopes that the thought of losing a patient for this type of procedure would get the wheel moving faster. Hopefully, this will be the case and Northwestern will just be a back up, but we're glad that there is a plan in place regardless.
V
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