Gastric Pacemaker Qualifications

I was diagnosed with gastroparesis over 16 years ago. In the past year, I have been hospitalized for nausea and vomiting nearly 8 times since August 2008. I have medical insurance, thank goodness, but I was wondering if anybody knew at what point would insurance - I have Pacificare HMO - would seriously consider a gastric pacemaker instead of my monthly hospital visits. I am using a variety of meds now - reglan syrup, zofran syrup, prevacid - but the hospital visits are still once a month.

Does anybody have any experience trying to get approved? I haven't yet spoken to my provider as I just got out of the hospital for the 8th time yesterday. The doc in charge for this last visit is helping me with a gastroenterology referral but I wanted to get some *real world* feedback on this as well.

Thanks in advance for all your help.

Gerene

[CalGal]

Gerene, you may want to google 'requesting a gastric pacemaker' and see what kind of info you get. Most insurance companies don't readily okay it and may only do it as a 'compassionate' request. You may want to talk directly to your insurance agent to find out what some of the parameters are and look at the hurdles you'll need to overcome.