Quote from: MacG on January 16, 2015, 04:23:48 PM
I'm involved in the transgender health program committee at OHSU. The coordinator for the program (a brand new position) started yesterday. As I have cohesive info, I can post in this thread. I think this program will be beneficial to so many Oregonians and others in the Pacific NW, not just OHSU patients.

Thank you for keeping us updated. I've been looking a little at OHSU and look forward to your updates!

I have a consult with Dr. Hansen tomorrow and I'm really confident it will go well. I have insurance through Providence and I had a nurse case manager who helped me get my top surgery process started and he told me that he's sent a lot of his FTM clients to Dr. Hansen with nothing but good remarks about her.

I was really happy also, when I made my appointment because the woman I spoke to (megan I think) first called me after my referral came through and used my preferred name and pronouns right off the bat without a single mistake. Then the woman I spoke to with their medical records area told me that they have a new preferred name and pronoun section in their system for trans folks. Hopefully this will become a good place for people in the PNW to come for treatment.

I'll let you guys know how my experience with her is.

For what it's worth, Outside In (a low income hormone provider) strongly recommends Dr. Hansen, and one of the docs, who plans to open a trans specific practice, thinks very highly over her. I think in depth reviews would be very helpful at this stage for everyone in the community. 

Quote from: Adam_ on January 27, 2015, 09:27:12 PM
I have a consult with Dr. Hansen tomorrow and I'm really confident it will go well. I have insurance through Providence ...

Adam: Did Providence require you to meet the 1-year-on-T requirement before you could schedule your consult?  I am working with a case manager, as well, and there's some confusion on whether I can schedule my consult now, or if I have to wait for the consult until I've met my 1-year-on-T birthday (in September).

And in general, I am excited to hear your update about how the consult went!!

Quote from: ridleysw on January 28, 2015, 01:45:06 PM
Adam: Did Providence require you to meet the 1-year-on-T requirement before you could schedule your consult?  I am working with a case manager, as well, and there's some confusion on whether I can schedule my consult now, or if I have to wait for the consult until I've met my 1-year-on-T birthday (in September).

And in general, I am excited to hear your update about how the consult went!!

Providence did require me to be on T for a year, I think that might be a universal requirement for most places because Dr. Hansen asked how long I'd been on T as well.

Overall, the consult was awesome. Dr. Hansen's staff were extremely respectful about my name and pronouns. She had an intern with her and they were both really respectful and made me feel so comfortable. Dr. Hansen is very personable and very good at what she does. She's booked out until April/May for surgery right now, even longer for consults. But even at this point I'd completely recommend her to anyone looking to get top surgery at OHSU.

I have top surgery scheduled with Dr. Hansen for feb 17.  I'm not even starting T until after, so I'd say go ahead and ask about this. Maybe it's insurance-related. Maybe the surgeon wants to know where you're at in transition.

I had my pre op with Dr. Hansen and her resident yesterday (jan 28), so I may have just missed you, Adam!

Did you get to see her work?

I am driving from Seattle on Wednesday for a consultation. Everyone has been really great at answering my questions so far. They are a really good group of people.

I feel a little anxious going that far for a consultation not even having seen her work, even though I have heard nothing but good things.

Hobbsy11,  I asked to see her work,  but I had a huge list of questions and didn't end up looking at anything. I've seen her work on other guys on Facebook. 

How did your consult go?

It was awesome. I did not get a surgery date because staff was gone by the time I had finished. My appointment was not until 4. I will schedule today.
I also did not ask to see any pictures, she was sure that the hair on my chest would cover any scars.

@macG congratulations! I can't wait to hear about how it goes for you. My appointment was at 4 that day so I think I was the last one haha.

@hobbsey, i never saw any of her work either but since she specializes in breast surgery overall I feel really confident in her capabilities when it comes to top surgery.

I'm still waiting to hear back from her scheduler since I had to send them copies of my letters again. hopefully sometime this week though.

Unfortunately, due to a surprise insurance issue related to my employer, my surgery has been postponed to August. Ugh.
Upside: I can start T now, finally.

Quote from: MacG on February 08, 2015, 12:04:24 PM
Unfortunately, due to a surprise insurance issue related to my employer, my surgery has been postponed to August. Ugh.
Upside: I can start T now, finally.

That sucks! At least you get some positive outcome out of it.

I just heard back from Dr. Hansen's scheduler today and was informed that she has a few people to schedule ahead of me so I should be getting a call soon to set a date. In the email she sent today she said that they're currently scheduling for April so crossing my fingers that I'll get an April or May date.

Oh good luck! That's exciting!
I ended up getting my first T shot on the day I'd had surgery originally scheduled. Yesterday.  It didn't hurt at all, and no lump or soreness. Annnnd my voice hasn't dropped, so I don't know if it's working

Quote from: Adam_ on January 27, 2015, 09:27:12 PM
I have a consult with Dr. Hansen tomorrow and I'm really confident it will go well. I have insurance through Providence ...

Hi Adam! I also have Providence insurance and am just trying to figure out what to expect when dealing with top surgery costs. At one point (a while back, mind you) I heard that OHSU would accept Providence, but that we'd have to pay upfront and then be reimbursed. If you don't mind me asking, was that what you experienced? I'm seeing a lot of great feedback on the OHSU surgeons, but if we have to pay up front, it might be a long long time before I can move forward with things. Any info or advice after dealing with Providence yourself would be very much appreciated!

Quote from: 40winx on February 21, 2015, 11:11:26 PM
Hi Adam! I also have Providence insurance and am just trying to figure out what to expect when dealing with top surgery costs. At one point (a while back, mind you) I heard that OHSU would accept Providence, but that we'd have to pay upfront and then be reimbursed. If you don't mind me asking, was that what you experienced? I'm seeing a lot of great feedback on the OHSU surgeons, but if we have to pay up front, it might be a long long time before I can move forward with things. Any info or advice after dealing with Providence yourself would be very much appreciated!

This is the first I've heard about having to pay up front! When I went in for my consult, Dr. Hansen asked how i planned to pay for it and I told her that Providence had told me that it was covered under my plan and that I had a Flexible Spending Account to cover my out of pocket expenses and that was all that was said about it so I'm sure she would have mentioned it at that point if it still applied.

As far as Providence goes, they've been awesome with my entire transition. I was already about a year and a half on t when I got my policy with them and they haven't given me a single fight over anything being covered. If you haven't already, I would suggest calling them and seeing if you can talk with a nurse case manager about gender reassignment surgery. They has a guy named Sean help me through the process with it from start to finish. Everyone is at different points within their transition so it's nice to have someone who knows what they're talking about and knows exactly what order things need to be done in. They can help you get the ball rolling.

I'm not sure if all Providence plans pay for this, I just know mine is for sure because I'm a state employee. But under Oregon State law I think they're legally forced to pay for it so just give them a call and see if it's even covered and if it's not on your plan, what you have to do to get it covered. Like I said before they've been awesome throughout this whole process, even calling me by my preferred name and pronouns. If you have any more questions, feel free to send me a message!

Quote from: MacG on February 19, 2015, 12:21:03 AM
Oh good luck! That's exciting!
I ended up getting my first T shot on the day I'd had surgery originally scheduled. Yesterday.  It didn't hurt at all, and no lump or soreness. Annnnd my voice hasn't dropped, so I don't know if it's working

Haha, good for you man!

Quote from: ridleysw on January 28, 2015, 01:45:06 PM
Adam: Did Providence require you to meet the 1-year-on-T requirement before you could schedule your consult?  I am working with a case manager, as well, and there's some confusion on whether I can schedule my consult now, or if I have to wait for the consult until I've met my 1-year-on-T birthday (in September).

And in general, I am excited to hear your update about how the consult went!!

Ridley,

I'm still learning how to use the forum and accidentally deleted your message and can't figure out how to send you a message so send me at an email at adamshill92@gmail.com!

Quote from: Adam_ on February 23, 2015, 01:56:33 PM
This is the first I've heard about having to pay up front! When I went in for my consult, Dr. Hansen asked how i planned to pay for it and I told her that Providence had told me that it was covered under my plan and that I had a Flexible Spending Account to cover my out of pocket expenses and that was all that was said about it so I'm sure she would have mentioned it at that point if it still applied.

As far as Providence goes, they've been awesome with my entire transition. I was already about a year and a half on t when I got my policy with them and they haven't given me a single fight over anything being covered. If you haven't already, I would suggest calling them and seeing if you can talk with a nurse case manager about gender reassignment surgery. They has a guy named Sean help me through the process with it from start to finish. Everyone is at different points within their transition so it's nice to have someone who knows what they're talking about and knows exactly what order things need to be done in. They can help you get the ball rolling.

I'm not sure if all Providence plans pay for this, I just know mine is for sure because I'm a state employee. But under Oregon State law I think they're legally forced to pay for it so just give them a call and see if it's even covered and if it's not on your plan, what you have to do to get it covered. Like I said before they've been awesome throughout this whole process, even calling me by my preferred name and pronouns. If you have any more questions, feel free to send me a message!

Oh wow that is so great to hear! Thank you so much for sharing your experience and for all the advice! Insurance stuff can just be so daunting sometimes I think I must have gotten bad info before to make me think we had to pay upfront. I will definitely be giving Providence a call to talk about the process, and I already feel much less intimidated after hearing your story. Best of luck with everything! I'd love to hear updates!

So, I finally got my consult scheduled with Dr. Hansen. I have a question for y'all though, does anyone know a general ball park of what she charges for DI? My paperwork I got indicates that I need to bring my copay/deductible balance/coinsurance to the consult and I need to figure out how much it'll be since my insurance goes by percentages.

I don't know. But congrats on getting started!