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Saturday, July 17, 2010

Where to get a PICC line

I had a PICC line inserted almost three weeks ago and wanted to post the info here for anyone needing it in the future. Dr. Paul Cipriano of Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures put in the line. He is in San Jose - 408-918-0405. He works a lot with Dr. Harris, but I bet he would do it for anyone with an order. They just asked me to bring the order with me.

I called and had an appointment in 1 1/2 weeks. They got prior authorization from Anthem Blue Cross, much to my amazement. I didn't think they would pay for it. They are out of network. He did the procedure at his facility. It took about an hour and was very easy.

I am getting Rocephin from Infuserve America - 800-886-9222 for $39/total including all supplies. I didn't try to get insurance to pay for the first month because I had no luck with my daughter before. But with her and her IV Invanz I have been pay Infuserve and they bill my insurance. Periodically they do pay for something and I get a credit on my credit card for anywhere from $100-$600. So, they may get Anthem to pay for part of it down the line.

I hope this info is helpful to someone.

Marla

3 comments:

  1. Why did you go so far to get the picc line. Did you look for somewhere in town? The reason I ask is because I may want to get a picc line soon. C

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  2. I have the same question. Dr Thoring (who Dr Harris works with)wants to send me to Thousand Oaks to get a picc line put in. I'm sure cancer patients have to have these put in or HIV patients. It would seem like any hospital should be able to do this. Does anyone know why we have to go so far? I don't have insurance, I have SLO county CMSP and they have told me they have NO Lyme doctors they can refer someone out to in SLO County, they only have HIV doctors who won't take Lyme patients.

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  3. The reason I went so far is because it was so easy. I had had a hard time finding someone to put in my daughter's catheter a couple of years ago and also I had heard about local people coming up against obstacle after obstacle locally. So I just opted to go the easy and cheaper route. We went up the night before, stayed in a cheap hotel, went to the facility at 8 a.m. and were done and on the road home by 10 a.m. No hospital fee, no hassles. Dr. Cipriano works with lots of Lyme patients and is very easy going. The total fee was only around $400.

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