Another frustrating chaper in this Helmet saga!

[Guest guest]

Ok...first thanks to all of you who responded to my last question!

My ped called me today and said that she feels like insurance is not

going to pay for the helmet unless I have a letter from a

specialist. The neurologist we went to told us that he did not

measure or mess with helmets anymore unless it was after a surgery,

and pretty much sent us away empty handed (he kept saying, " She is

really beautiful...I barely notice it " )....But in his report to our

ped he mentioned that he felt just by looking at her, a helmet would

be benefical(funny he never mentioned that to us)and he recommended

we see a cranial facial specialist.... Soooo now our ped is sending

us to a cranial facial specialist in Dallas to get the official

prescription. Dallas is a 7 hour trip for us but we were willing to

take that trip to see the doctor. However, in the same conversation

the ped said that she had talked to a few PTs and they all agreed

that the Starband in this area was not very good, the DOC band out of

Dallas is better.

If insurance cover the DOC band, we will probably go with the ped's

recommendations...even though gas back and forth to Dallas every

couple weeks is going to KILL us...However if insurance does not

cover it, I think the DOC bands here run about 3,000.00 plus the gas

back and forth to Dallas will likely put us in the poor house...

I am not even sure what I am asking...it is all so much...do I go

with this ped's recommendations? If insurance is not going to pay and

we have the specialist prescription, can we go anywhere? Is the

Starband really that much worse than the DOC band or could it be the

orthotic guys that they are not impressed with.

I am just so afraid that she is going to get older and older and we

are still going to be bounced around...are her results going to take

a lot longer if we are not in this helmet by the time she is 6 months

(which will be May 6th)

Thanks!!

Dawn

dd

tortocollis - improving with PT

plagiocephaly - improved with PT and repositioning

Brachiocephaly - needs correcting

[Guest guest]

Hi Dawn: Sorry to hear about all your troubles; Doctors can be sooo

frustrating. For what it's worth have you (or any of the others that

have to travel long distance) ever checked out Angelflight? I am

curious myself, we'll be making the trek to Chicago every couple of

weeks (300 miles one way) and I am already worried about those times

when the band might need some extra adjustment.

Take care,

Heidrun

-- In Plagiocephaly , " Dawn " <dmpearson@...> wrote:

>

> Ok...first thanks to all of you who responded to my last question!

>

> My ped called me today and said that she feels like insurance is

not

> going to pay for the helmet unless I have a letter from a

> specialist. The neurologist we went to told us that he did not

> measure or mess with helmets anymore unless it was after a surgery,

> and pretty much sent us away empty handed (he kept saying, " She is

> really beautiful...I barely notice it " )....But in his report to our

> ped he mentioned that he felt just by looking at her, a helmet

would

> be benefical(funny he never mentioned that to us)and he recommended

> we see a cranial facial specialist.... Soooo now our ped is sending

> us to a cranial facial specialist in Dallas to get the official

> prescription. Dallas is a 7 hour trip for us but we were willing

to

> take that trip to see the doctor. However, in the same

conversation

> the ped said that she had talked to a few PTs and they all agreed

> that the Starband in this area was not very good, the DOC band out

of

> Dallas is better.

>

> If insurance cover the DOC band, we will probably go with the ped's

> recommendations...even though gas back and forth to Dallas every

> couple weeks is going to KILL us...However if insurance does not

> cover it, I think the DOC bands here run about 3,000.00 plus the

gas

> back and forth to Dallas will likely put us in the poor house...

>

> I am not even sure what I am asking...it is all so much...do I go

> with this ped's recommendations? If insurance is not going to pay

and

> we have the specialist prescription, can we go anywhere? Is the

> Starband really that much worse than the DOC band or could it be

the

> orthotic guys that they are not impressed with.

>

> I am just so afraid that she is going to get older and older and we

> are still going to be bounced around...are her results going to

take

> a lot longer if we are not in this helmet by the time she is 6

months

> (which will be May 6th)

>

> Thanks!!

>

> Dawn

>

> dd

> tortocollis - improving with PT

> plagiocephaly - improved with PT and repositioning

> Brachiocephaly - needs correcting

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Dawn-

I can feel your stress coming through the computer! And I feel for

you, I know exactly what you're going through. First thing's first

though, do not panic about 's age, 6 months is not a make or

break cut off. You should see great correction even well after that.

Now, for the insurance stuff. Have you actually called your

insurance company and spoken to them personally yet? If not, I would

highly recommend it. I spoke to my insurance company at least 4

times before deciding to go through with everything, and I would not

want to leave it in the hands of a doctor or someone else to deal

with (if they lead me to believe one thing and it turned out to be

wrong, I would be annoyed with them and myself for not checking it

out first hand). I would call them and ask them if a dynamic

orthotic cranial device is covered. Start there, see if it is

covered and how much (it was covered under my plan, it was just a

matter of whether they were in-network - they would cover 90% - or

out of network - they would cover 75%, and at that point I was told

I would need a letter of medical necessity. They never said whether

it needed to be a specialist or not, but CT did say there is

sometimes more weight in a script and letter from a specialist).

From there, ask them if the specific ortho that provides the

StarBand near you and/or Cranial Tech is considered in-network. If

Cranial Tech is out of network, but you have out of network

coverage, then they should cover some portion of the cost. However,

if CT is out of network, they will not file your claim for you. You

will have to pay for the band up front and then file your own claim

and wait for reimbursement (we just got our reimbursement check last

week, the turnaround was about a month). We did bypass the local

StarBand ortho to go 3 hours away to a CT, but not because the

StarBand doesn't work as well as the DocBand (they both work the

same, so does Hanger, and people have had great success with

either). Rather, the ortho for StarBand didn't have as much

experience with older babies as the therapists working with the

DocBand 3 hours away, so that is what made the decision for us. I

would focus on the ortho/therapists. Ask your doctor if they have a

problem with the StarBand itself, or the ortho handling it. If it's

the ortho, are there any other local options for you?

I agree, the idea of a 6 or 7 hour one-way trip, is a tough one.

We " only " have to travel 3 hours each way, but we have family there

and we only have to go every 3 weeks because of my son's age.

However, if that wasn't the case, and I strongly felt that CT was

the better way to go, I think I still would have made the decision

to commute. So you really just have to go with your gut.

Also, if you do decide to make the commute, save ALL of your

receipts (hotel, food, gas, plus any out of pocket expense for the

band), and you should be able to " write it off " (or whatever it's

called) at tax time next year (I think the out of pocket medical

expense minimum was $5000 for a married couple - I had my husband

check when he did our taxes - and I think you'll be amazed at how

quickly that adds up, especially if you end up paying for the band

out of pocket).

Good luck with everything!

Jake-18m (tort resolved/rt plagio/DocBand 2/11/08)

Jordan-4

>

> Ok...first thanks to all of you who responded to my last question!

>

> My ped called me today and said that she feels like insurance is

not

> going to pay for the helmet unless I have a letter from a

> specialist. The neurologist we went to told us that he did not

> measure or mess with helmets anymore unless it was after a

surgery,

> and pretty much sent us away empty handed (he kept saying, " She is

> really beautiful...I barely notice it " )....But in his report to

our

> ped he mentioned that he felt just by looking at her, a helmet

would

> be benefical(funny he never mentioned that to us)and he

recommended

> we see a cranial facial specialist.... Soooo now our ped is

sending

> us to a cranial facial specialist in Dallas to get the official

> prescription. Dallas is a 7 hour trip for us but we were willing

to

> take that trip to see the doctor. However, in the same

conversation

> the ped said that she had talked to a few PTs and they all agreed

> that the Starband in this area was not very good, the DOC band out

of

> Dallas is better.

>

> If insurance cover the DOC band, we will probably go with the

ped's

> recommendations...even though gas back and forth to Dallas every

> couple weeks is going to KILL us...However if insurance does not

> cover it, I think the DOC bands here run about 3,000.00 plus the

gas

> back and forth to Dallas will likely put us in the poor house...

>

> I am not even sure what I am asking...it is all so much...do I go

> with this ped's recommendations? If insurance is not going to pay

and

> we have the specialist prescription, can we go anywhere? Is the

> Starband really that much worse than the DOC band or could it be

the

> orthotic guys that they are not impressed with.

>

> I am just so afraid that she is going to get older and older and

we

> are still going to be bounced around...are her results going to

take

> a lot longer if we are not in this helmet by the time she is 6

months

> (which will be May 6th)

>

> Thanks!!

>

> Dawn

>

> dd

> tortocollis - improving with PT

> plagiocephaly - improved with PT and repositioning

> Brachiocephaly - needs correcting

>

[Guest guest]

Hi again-

I just reread your original post and I forgot to answer one

thing...you can take the script anywhere, so as long as you have

that, you can decide where to go from there. We got a script from a

cranio surgeon that worked closely with the StarBand ortho in the

same hospital, but we went to CT with the script instead (and they

told me he had other patients that had gone there as well so we

weren't the only ones!).

Jake-18m (tort resolved/rt plagio/DocBand 2/11/08)

Jordan-4

> >

> > Ok...first thanks to all of you who responded to my last

question!

> >

> > My ped called me today and said that she feels like insurance is

> not

> > going to pay for the helmet unless I have a letter from a

> > specialist. The neurologist we went to told us that he did not

> > measure or mess with helmets anymore unless it was after a

> surgery,

> > and pretty much sent us away empty handed (he kept saying, " She

is

> > really beautiful...I barely notice it " )....But in his report to

> our

> > ped he mentioned that he felt just by looking at her, a helmet

> would

> > be benefical(funny he never mentioned that to us)and he

> recommended

> > we see a cranial facial specialist.... Soooo now our ped is

> sending

> > us to a cranial facial specialist in Dallas to get the official

> > prescription. Dallas is a 7 hour trip for us but we were

willing

> to

> > take that trip to see the doctor. However, in the same

> conversation

> > the ped said that she had talked to a few PTs and they all

agreed

> > that the Starband in this area was not very good, the DOC band

out

> of

> > Dallas is better.

> >

> > If insurance cover the DOC band, we will probably go with the

> ped's

> > recommendations...even though gas back and forth to Dallas every

> > couple weeks is going to KILL us...However if insurance does not

> > cover it, I think the DOC bands here run about 3,000.00 plus the

> gas

> > back and forth to Dallas will likely put us in the poor house...

> >

> > I am not even sure what I am asking...it is all so much...do I

go

> > with this ped's recommendations? If insurance is not going to

pay

> and

> > we have the specialist prescription, can we go anywhere? Is the

> > Starband really that much worse than the DOC band or could it be

> the

> > orthotic guys that they are not impressed with.

> >

> > I am just so afraid that she is going to get older and older and

> we

> > are still going to be bounced around...are her results going to

> take

> > a lot longer if we are not in this helmet by the time she is 6

> months

> > (which will be May 6th)

> >

> > Thanks!!

> >

> > Dawn

> >

> > dd

> > tortocollis - improving with PT

> > plagiocephaly - improved with PT and repositioning

> > Brachiocephaly - needs correcting

> >

>

[Guest guest]

everyone answered the questions great so I will cover the only one I didnt see not answered well. No, the starband cannot be that much worse BUT it is the orthotist that means the most when it comes to improvement. They are made at a central location but it is the orthotist that is going to fit it, check it and do all teh adjustments, a less experienced or otherwise iffy orthotist can make a world of difference.

If you feel comoftrable asking you can find out what your doctor bases their opinion of starband on, maybe she just says that b/c docbands are typically considered the " best " or maybe she heard from 1 person who had a bad experience with starband or maybe it is something that hasnt even happened with their current orthotist or recently, those may all be reasons to do the research on your own and look on here, talk to ppl and go for a consult to see how you feel about their experience and knowledge. OTOH if she has heard from specialists, or has a bad story or several different experiences to go by it may be something worth ruling them out with. If you look through the archives there are ppl on here who have had a bad 1st helmet which is essense, at best, is wasting the time they spent in that helmet at worse it could have actually made things worse.

When we looked at helmets we had an option of all 3. Hanger is local, a 30 minute drive. Starband is available in 2 different cities each about a 2 hr drive and CT was only a 2 hr drive. Obviously since Hanger was closer we looked into that, word of mouth though was that they werent very good just as yuo are hearing about starband. But on probing noone had actually tried them, the ppl that commented based their comments on either the feeling that the docband was the " best " or something they heard from someone who heard from someone with no real knowledge if it was based on anyone who had actually used them. So since that was the bad rap reason I probed furthur into Hanger, on here searching the database and archives I was able to locate 2 ppl who used the local hanger about a year apart from each other, teh same orthotist, the more recent one was happy, the older one had a bad experience. Of course that didnt help much so I opted to get a consult there. THAT is what made my decision. Though talking to the orthotist she was very experienced and treated many patients. She seemed knowledgable and was nice. That is until we got to the measuring, etc. She did the head scan which was very neat but only took 1 measurement compared to the many CT took. On that measurement my son only measured 2 mm assymetry. She said 2 was well within normal limits even though she could obviously see, as a specialist, that he had plagiocephaly. She also said that even with better measurements it was very hard to get our insurance to pay, they always deny it and at 2 no insurance would cover a band. We asked about his ears (our biggest concern) and she said that they never seem improvement in the ears. We had already had a consult with CT before that and were quite confused. Was 2 mm or the 15 mm assymetry CT told us about true? I mean was he normal or bordering on severe. I dont know why I even wondered lol, in the end I said " wait a minute, I can look at his head and tell it isnt normal, nowhere near a perfect which a 2 mm assymetry is near perfcet, so Hanger has to be wrong " so I called CT and asked about ears and they explained that they cannot comment on Hanger b/c do not deal with it but it is difficult to get improvement in ear assumetry b/c you are working with the skull base which has smaller bones but that they absolutely do get correction with the docband and theyw ould expect at his age and seveirty to get him down to about an 8 (they got him down to a 6) in about 3 mo in a single helmet. Well obviously I wasnt going to chose a company that wasnt going to fix his problem so we chose Docband. We did not even consider starband so didnt consult withe them. we didnt consider it just b/c it was equadistant from CT so if we were going to drive we might as well just go to CT. Besides in the end we were able to get our insurance to not only cover it but cover the docband as in network since there is no cranial band specialist in network (orthoamerica and hanger are in network but we got them to base it on cranial band specialists, not orthotists). I do know 2 ppl locally that used the starband though. 1 said she wished she had used docband but when I asked her she didnt say she got bad results with the starband so maybe it just had to do with the time in the band or something??? The other was still in it last I saw them but were happy so far. There are many happy starbanders on here but again it will have to do with your particular location and orthostist. B/c just like Hanger here wasnt good there are many happy hanger band grads on here. I cannot even imagine driving 7 hrs each way but then I couldnt imagine doing the 2 either, especially knowing that I wouldnt be able to bring dh to every single visit (every 2 wks for us) and I would have to squeeze it in between school drop off and the school bus coming with not only my son in tow but his 2 yr old sister aas well. But it really wasnt as bad as I thought, we ferquently had lunch or did something afterwards. Mine arent great travelers though, even though they are quite seasoned. I think a 7 hr trip I would end up having to stay overnight and I can see that getting really pricey. My 2 hr drive didnt add up to enough to claim on my taxes but I bet a 7 hr would. You can claim mileage or gas (mileage is usually more though with the price of gas these days, I would keep both JIC), hotel, I think food too but I would double check, ours was almost always fast food so didnt do me much either.

Good Luck in your decision, I had to keep reminding myself that this wasnt something I could fix later, it was now or never and it was only a few months which is tiny in the scheme of things, it flew by

On Sat, Mar 29, 2008 at 7:27 PM, nwilkens2275 <nwilkens2275@...> wrote:

Hi again-I just reread your original post and I forgot to answer one thing...you can take the script anywhere, so as long as you have that, you can decide where to go from there. We got a script from a

cranio surgeon that worked closely with the StarBand ortho in the same hospital, but we went to CT with the script instead (and they told me he had other patients that had gone there as well so we weren't the only ones!). Jake-18m (tort resolved/rt plagio/DocBand 2/11/08)Jordan-4

> >> > Ok...first thanks to all of you who responded to my last question!> > > > My ped called me today and said that she feels like insurance is > not > > going to pay for the helmet unless I have a letter from a

> > specialist. The neurologist we went to told us that he did not > > measure or mess with helmets anymore unless it was after a > surgery, > > and pretty much sent us away empty handed (he kept saying, " She

is > > really beautiful...I barely notice it " )....But in his report to > our > > ped he mentioned that he felt just by looking at her, a helmet > would > > be benefical(funny he never mentioned that to us)and he

> recommended > > we see a cranial facial specialist.... Soooo now our ped is > sending > > us to a cranial facial specialist in Dallas to get the official > > prescription. Dallas is a 7 hour trip for us but we were

willing > to > > take that trip to see the doctor. However, in the same > conversation > > the ped said that she had talked to a few PTs and they all agreed > > that the Starband in this area was not very good, the DOC band

out > of > > Dallas is better. > > > > If insurance cover the DOC band, we will probably go with the > ped's > > recommendations...even though gas back and forth to Dallas every

> > couple weeks is going to KILL us...However if insurance does not > > cover it, I think the DOC bands here run about 3,000.00 plus the > gas > > back and forth to Dallas will likely put us in the poor house...

> > > > I am not even sure what I am asking...it is all so much...do I go > > with this ped's recommendations? If insurance is not going to pay > and > > we have the specialist prescription, can we go anywhere? Is the

> > Starband really that much worse than the DOC band or could it be > the > > orthotic guys that they are not impressed with.> > > > I am just so afraid that she is going to get older and older and

> we > > are still going to be bounced around...are her results going to > take > > a lot longer if we are not in this helmet by the time she is 6 > months > > (which will be May 6th)

> > > > Thanks!!> > > > Dawn> > > > dd > > tortocollis - improving with PT> > plagiocephaly - improved with PT and repositioning> > Brachiocephaly - needs correcting

> >>

-- SC SAHM to , , , , and what should we name our baby girl?

" We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today. " ~Stacia Tauscher

[Guest guest]

Very interesting , I called my local hanger and asked for referals of past parents. They had none to offer, that did it for me. DOC here I ran. Tammy

Hi again-I just reread your original post and I forgot to answer one thing...you can take the script anywhere, so as long as you have that, you can decide where to go from there. We got a script from a cranio surgeon that worked closely with the StarBand ortho in the same hospital, but we went to CT with the script instead (and they told me he had other patients that had gone there as well so we weren't the only ones!). Jake-18m (tort resolved/rt plagio/DocBand 2/11/08)Jordan-4> >> > Ok...first thanks to all of you who responded to my last question!> > > > My ped called me today and said that she feels like insurance is > not > > going to pay for the helmet unless I have a letter from a > > specialist. The neurologist we went to told us that he did not > > measure or mess with helmets anymore unless it was after a > surgery, > > and pretty much sent us away empty handed (he kept saying, "She is > > really beautiful... I barely notice it")....But in his report to > our > > ped he mentioned that he felt just by looking at

her, a helmet > would > > be benefical(funny he never mentioned that to us)and he > recommended > > we see a cranial facial specialist.. .. Soooo now our ped is > sending > > us to a cranial facial specialist in Dallas to get the official > > prescription. Dallas is a 7 hour trip for us but we were willing > to > > take that trip to see the doctor. However, in the same > conversation > > the ped said that she had talked to a few PTs and they all agreed > > that the Starband in this area was not very good, the DOC band out > of > > Dallas is better. > > > > If insurance cover the DOC band, we will probably go with the > ped's > > recommendations. ..even though gas back and forth to Dallas every > > couple weeks is going to KILL us...However if insurance does not > >

cover it, I think the DOC bands here run about 3,000.00 plus the > gas > > back and forth to Dallas will likely put us in the poor house...> > > > I am not even sure what I am asking...it is all so much...do I go > > with this ped's recommendations? If insurance is not going to pay > and > > we have the specialist prescription, can we go anywhere? Is the > > Starband really that much worse than the DOC band or could it be > the > > orthotic guys that they are not impressed with.> > > > I am just so afraid that she is going to get older and older and > we > > are still going to be bounced around...are her results going to > take > > a lot longer if we are not in this helmet by the time she is 6 > months > > (which will be May 6th)> > > > Thanks!!> > >

> Dawn> > > > dd > > tortocollis - improving with PT> > plagiocephaly - improved with PT and repositioning> > Brachiocephaly - needs correcting> >>

-- SC SAHM to , , , , and what should we name our baby girl?"We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today." ~Stacia Tauscher

Like movies? Here's a limited-time offer: Blockbuster Total Access for one month at no cost.

[Guest guest]

I found ppl on my own on here that had hanger bands from this location and had talked to ppl I knew who had helmets (none hanger), hanger didnt give me anything but that is not something I asked. I asked a lot of questions as to how long she had been doing it, how many she treated, etc but didnt ask for referrels b/c I planned to do that for a final decision but made my decision to exclude them without needin referrels

On Sun, Mar 30, 2008 at 3:29 PM, Tammy Sabs <princessluau@...> wrote:

Very interesting , I called my local hanger and asked for referals of past parents. They had none to offer, that did it for me. DOC here I ran. Tammy

Hi again-I just reread your original post and I forgot to answer one thing...you can take the script anywhere, so as long as you have that, you can decide where to go from there. We got a script from a

cranio surgeon that worked closely with the StarBand ortho in the same hospital, but we went to CT with the script instead (and they told me he had other patients that had gone there as well so we weren't the only ones!). Jake-18m (tort resolved/rt plagio/DocBand 2/11/08)Jordan-4

> >> > Ok...first thanks to all of you who responded to my last question!> > > > My ped called me today and said that she feels like insurance is > not > > going to pay for the helmet unless I have a letter from a

> > specialist. The neurologist we went to told us that he did not > > measure or mess with helmets anymore unless it was after a > surgery, > > and pretty much sent us away empty handed (he kept saying, " She

is > > really beautiful... I barely notice it " )....But in his report to > our > > ped he mentioned that he felt just by looking at her, a helmet > would > > be benefical(funny he never mentioned that to us)and he

> recommended > > we see a cranial facial specialist.. .. Soooo now our ped is > sending > > us to a cranial facial specialist in Dallas to get the official > > prescription. Dallas is a 7 hour trip for us but we were

willing > to > > take that trip to see the doctor. However, in the same > conversation > > the ped said that she had talked to a few PTs and they all agreed > > that the Starband in this area was not very good, the DOC band

out > of > > Dallas is better. > > > > If insurance cover the DOC band, we will probably go with the > ped's > > recommendations. ..even though gas back and forth to Dallas every

> > couple weeks is going to KILL us...However if insurance does not > > cover it, I think the DOC bands here run about 3,000.00 plus the > gas > > back and forth to Dallas will likely put us in the poor house...

> > > > I am not even sure what I am asking...it is all so much...do I go > > with this ped's recommendations? If insurance is not going to pay > and > > we have the specialist prescription, can we go anywhere? Is the

> > Starband really that much worse than the DOC band or could it be > the > > orthotic guys that they are not impressed with.> > > > I am just so afraid that she is going to get older and older and

> we > > are still going to be bounced around...are her results going to > take > > a lot longer if we are not in this helmet by the time she is 6 > months > > (which will be May 6th)

> > > > Thanks!!> > > > Dawn> > > > dd > > tortocollis - improving with PT> > plagiocephaly - improved with PT and repositioning> > Brachiocephaly - needs correcting

> >>

-- SC SAHM to , , , , and what should we name our baby girl? " We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today. " ~Stacia Tauscher

Like movies? Here's a limited-time offer: Blockbuster Total Access for one month at no cost. -- SC SAHM to , , , , and what should we name our baby girl?

" We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today. " ~Stacia Tauscher