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Trying to get treatment option information from my hand surgeon
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04/09/2014 19:08
nautiki 
04/09/2014 19:08
nautiki 
Trying to get treatment option information from my hand surgeon

I just had my hand manipulation done today after having been injected with Xiaflex 2 days ago. This was my 6th treatment in 2 years...4 injections of Xiaflex and 2 NA procedures. I have very aggressive DD in both hands and nodules in my feet and so far no trouble with my feet. I decided it was time for the surgeon to talk more openly with me. The first time I saw him in 2011 he wanted to do surgery on one hand and when I said no way he changed his tune and agreed to do NA which turned out fairly well. He hit about 6 different places on my right palm and my middle finger. Total cost about $3700. of which I paid $1000. This procedure is done at outpatient center. Next procedure was the Xiaflex and it is done in office and cost around $7700. of which I pay $30. So here I am on my 6th time and I'm telling him we certainly seem to get a lot more done with the NA procedure and he says "yeah, you get a lot more bang for your buck with the NA." I've been reading about people with Dr. Denkler in California getting both procedures combined and that certainly looks better than what we're doing here. He agreed to look into it. In 9 months I will be eligible for Medicare and would like to know if my outpatient NA procedures will then still cost me $1000. out of pocket. I will buy a good medicare supplement. I have decided that since I always have multiple places to be worked on and seem to get better results with the NA that I'm doing that next time. The Xiaflex being basically free to me has influenced my decisions but I'm tired of going back so often.

04/09/2014 20:19
moondanc 
04/09/2014 20:19
moondanc 
Re: Trying to get treatment option information from my hand surgeon

nautiki:
So here I am on my 6th time and I'm telling him we certainly seem to get a lot more done with the NA procedure and he says "yeah, you get a lot more bang for your buck with the NA." I've been reading about people with Dr. Denkler in California getting both procedures combined and that certainly looks better than what we're doing here. He agreed to look into it. In 9 months I will be eligible for Medicare and would like to know if my outpatient NA procedures will then still cost me $1000. out of pocket. I will buy a good medicare supplement. I have decided that since I always have multiple places to be worked on and seem to get better results with the NA that I'm doing that next time. The Xiaflex being basically free to me has influenced my decisions but I'm tired of going back so often.

I've also had multiple NA procedures and I've never had to pay out of pocket with Medicare and a Medigap policy for NA. Cost used to be around $750-$850 with Dr. Eaton. Anything that is covered by Medicare will be reimbursed at 20% by Medigap policy. If it is NOT covered by Medicare then Medigap policy will NOT pay.

I was astounded at the charges for my last NA procedures in September (a different doctor since Dr. Eaton has retired)-- both hands-2 fingers each. The initial bill was $10,900.00 for each hand -26040-LT (Medicare approved $691.99 for each hand). There was an additional bill "release of tissues of palm, accessed through the skin-(26040-79RT)" @ $339.70 for each hand and Medicare approved the entire amount.

I had "twilight sleep" anesthesia both days at outpatient surgical centers. Day 1 Medicare was billed $1100.00 for anesthesia for a doctor (other than my surgeon) plus another $1100.00 for a nurse anesthesiologist! (Only the nurse anesth. was in the room and administered the anesthesia. Medicare paid $68.43 x 2. Day two same thing except only billed $851 x 2. Medicare paid $52.47 X 2.

After all that, it was only a 20 minute procedure each day, 4 maybe 5 needle holes for release (Dr. Eaton did twice as many as did another doctor I saw) and it was only 30-40% successful. I'm trying to figure out where to go from here.

04/09/2014 23:13
Seph 
04/09/2014 23:13
Seph 

Re: Trying to get treatment option information from my hand surgeon

All sounds expensive. May be time to consider a trip to Paris. 300 euros per hand (Not per finger). You get doctors that have heaps of experience with NA and you get a holiday thrown in.

04/10/2014 01:25
cschieber 
04/10/2014 01:25
cschieber 
Re: Trying to get treatment option information from my hand surgeon

Paris is a bit more expensive than that these days. I was quoted over $500 per hand, cash, last summer.

January 2013 I had NA with Dr. Denkler, 2 fingers and both thumb webs. Total cost $1300.

04/10/2014 03:18
pia2some 
04/10/2014 03:18
pia2some 
Re: Trying to get treatment option information from my hand surgeon

$10,900 for each hand??? That is for the surgeon? That is a ridiculous amount of money. I had 2.5 hours of open hand surgery and the total bill for the surgeon was $2,730.00. I paid $901 out of my pocket, including the deductible. How can an NA procedure costs almost $11,000? Wow.

I do like how Dr. Denkler is using NA and Xiaflex together. From what I read he is getting very good results with that.


~ dawn

04/10/2014 04:30
Seph 
04/10/2014 04:30
Seph 

Re: Trying to get treatment option information from my hand surgeon

cschieber:
Paris is a bit more expensive than that these days. I was quoted over $500 per hand, cash, last summer.

January 2013 I had NA with Dr. Denkler, 2 fingers and both thumb webs. Total cost $1300.

cschieber, At current exchange rate 300 Euro's is about $US420. I was last in Paris 6 months ago. NA done on 3 fingers of one hand plus several cortisone injections into nodules in the web and on my thumb. Cost was 300 euros (Yes cash).

Treatment done at 10 a.m. so I was able to spend the rest of the day seeing the sights of Paris before catching a flight back to Sydney that evening. Very relaxing.

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