Prior to bariatric surgery, clients opting to utilize medical insurance benefits are often required to undergo a pre-surgical psychological evaluation. This evaluation is required to keep patients safe and ensure the success of surgical intervention. During bariatric pre-surgical psychological evaluation at Northern Colorado Assessment Center, our clinician will talk to you, review your goals, help you understand treatment plans, and ensure your confidence when making the determination to move forward with bariatric surgery.
Who Should Receive Spinal Cord Stimulator Pre-Surgical Psychological Evaluation?
SCS pre-surgical psychological evaluations are often required by insurers and surgeons in order to ensure you receive coverage from your insurance plan for the surgical procedure. Some clients also elect to receive a pre-surgical psychological evaluation to help them determine whether or not an SCS device is the right option to address your chronic pain. Our goal during a pre-surgical psychological evaluation is always to help clients feel 100% confident before electing to undergo surgery. Many people worry that we are here to “pass” or “fail” them as a candidate for surgery, but this is simply not the case. Our clinicians want to help you develop appropriate expectations, understand the potential mental and physical health ramifications of treatment, and ensure a safe and successful conclusion to your SCS device placement. Past psychological concerns or treatment will not necessarily mean denial of insurance coverage for SCS device placement surgery. We assess every client’s situation and make our recommendations based on the individual case.
What Kind of Testing is Involved?
To get started with your SCS pre-surgical psychological evaluation, we will have you answer a series of questions that will give us information about your medical history, current conditions, and other factors that impact treatment success. We want to understand your current level of pain, history of dealing with chronic pain, lifestyle and activities that may be contributing to discomfort, and the results of past attempts at relieving pain. We want to have a clear understanding of your beliefs about the causes of your chronic pain and what expectations you have for pain reduction after surgery.
The initial questionnaires guide the clinical interview portion of the evaluation. Many people are worried about the clinical interview, but we encourage clients to think of this simply as a conversation with a professional who knows about the emotional and physical stress of undergoing surgery and making big life changes. We’re not here to judge you. Our clinician wants to collect and assess information required by your insurer or surgeon to approve surgery, but we also want to help you think through the surgical treatment process and potential concerns to improve your chances for success. During the clinical interview, we will help you address any emotional concerns that arise and talk through coping skills for issues that may arise after surgery.
After your assessment and clinical interview, we will provide a thorough report that you can give to your insurance company and surgeon. If you have questions or concerns after the evaluations are completed, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your clinician. To schedule a pre bariatric surgery psychological evaluation in Fort Collins, CO, contact us.