January 2018
Jenelle
Ehlers
,
BSN, RN
UW Health Surgery
SwedishAmerican Hospital
Rockford
,
IL
United States
A patient that was diagnosed with breast cancer came to the office in need of surgery for breast cancer removal along with reconstruction surgery afterwards. The reconstruction office stated they would not schedule surgery for the patient until December. However, Jenelle explored every avenue and spent the entire day working back and forth between the insurance company and the reconstruction office to get quicker approval. She was able to get the surgery approved and scheduled in just a day's notice. On the day of the surgery, Jenelle received a phone call from the hospital stating that the surgery would be on hold due to the insurance company not approving the reconstruction portion of the procedure. The patient's wish was to have both surgeries all at one time, so she only had to go through this horrific experience once. Knowing this was extremely important to the patient, Jenelle proceeded to call the insurance company to see what she could do to help speed up the process. The insurance company stated that the reconstruction office had not completed their part in order for the reconstruction portion to be approved. Jenelle immediately called the reconstruction office requesting they complete their part as not to delay surgery any longer. Finally, after Jenelle's hard work and dedication, the surgery was approved and was only delayed by 20 minutes.