Cleveland clinic

Don't have all your records translated. Just do operative and procedure reports, imaging reports, hospital discharge summaries, and recent lab tests. You also don't need the records going back for decades. A more recent history and physical will outline your pertinent past.

Most of the hospital records are not something you need for your new consult and just create extra stuff for them to wade through, wasting their time and your money. When you order a copy of the records, you can specify what records you want.

Jan

This could be way way off because the US health care system has no standardized pricing whatsoever....but I did a search recently on my insurance's website for Dr. Shen to see if a visit would be covered and what the estimated price would be. This insurance company's contracted rate was I think around $250. It could be totally different without insurance or even with a different insurance company.
My consultation with my GI surgeon in Boston was $642 before insurance!
You can try to call and find out, although usually when I call ahead of time to find out the cost, no one has a clue, they just say 'uh well it'll go through insurance right?'.
Cleveland Clinic might be better about this because they deal with so many international patients.
Bonne chance!
Katie

I created an "outline" of my medical history on my own - mostly the highlights related to my colon issues, including even small items like totally out-of-whack blood results, and including other major issues that were non-colon related. This is what Dr. Shen seemed most interested in reading during our initial consult.

I did take my other medical records along, but the outline cut to the chase and even though it was not an "official" record, Dr. Shen looked through it with great interest.

Thank you very much for your suggestions. I have been wanting so badly to go that route,because of so much that is happened here, with not much results and well to be honest besides the fact that our medical system here sucks! Sorry with all do respect, I changed from one hospital to another and they really don't seem to no more then the other. To be honest they don't really specialize in j pouches or at least with complicated cases! But are to dam proud to refer you to someone who is.
With all the people I've mentored in my city, I've come to see that they push for ileostomies 95% of the time!
Could this be a political thing? Who knows, but a whole lot of young/older people as well whom I have had the honors to have met, and by what they have told me, in regards to their health info. Had never been told about the j pouch or the kock pouch? So that kind of gets me wondering...
So that's why my curiousity,keeps taking towards CC to see what they would tell me. But being unemployed,with 2 girls in university, kind of puts a damper on things, not to mention quilt.
Thank goodness for this forum that keeps us educated as well as hopeful, knowing that we are not alone. God bless each and every single one of you

Have you checked to see if C.C. accepts patients with out insurance ? When I used to go to Mayo,they would only take insured patients. My theory on why the ileostomy are pushed,is it's a business.The facility/provider can't perform the j pouch surgery, so they push ileostomy'to keep the business in house.At least that's how I viewed it.

I know that they do take out of town people, the question is the price!
As for it being a business I totally agree with you.