Canadian EP

Hello
I have been researching every thing regarding A Fib/Flutter. I have been in the circle of meds for about 2/1/2 years and now have a time frame for an ablation with a EP here in Calgary.
It is not easy to get appointments in any other location other than your local area! I waited 14 months just to get an appointment and I am now on the ablation list which is 6 to 9 months waiting!!

I even searched for an EP in Guadalajara Mexico because I know some doctors there. The EP I talked to said he had been doing ablations for 15 years and could do mine in 10 days time!....but the cost was 45,000USD which is beyond my budget. So I am stuck with the Canadian system of waiting .

All info points to using an experienced EP and the EP the system sent me to has been doing the procedure for 15 years and averages 80/100 a year so his total procedures is around 1200 to 1500.

Has any one from Canada searched out an EP with more experience and been able to request them?

Thank you Calvin

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calvin
I even searched for an EP in Guadalajara Mexico because I know some doctors there. The EP I talked to said he had been doing ablations for 15 years and could do mine in 10 days time!....but the cost was 45,000USD which is beyond my budget. So I am stuck with the Canadian system of waiting .

$45K in Mexico?!! That's nuts! You can get an ablation with Natale in Texas for that price.

Not that I have found. I contacted 3 different providers in the US and they averaged 75,000USD which is about 100.000CD
As a Canadian we do not have private health care plans maybe you saying $45,000 is a co pay? Any way thanks for the comment its still out of my budget.

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calvin
Not that I have found. I contacted 3 different providers in the US and they averaged 75,000USD which is about 100.000CD
As a Canadian we do not have private health care plans maybe you saying $45,000 is a co pay? Any way thanks for the comment its still out of my budget.

That is likely the cost for private pay, if you don’t have insurance. They quote that much higher price because they will negotiate with insurance but the actual fee will be much less.

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calvin
Not that I have found. I contacted 3 different providers in the US and they averaged 75,000USD which is about 100.000CD
As a Canadian we do not have private health care plans maybe you saying $45,000 is a co pay? Any way thanks for the comment its still out of my budget.

$45K isn't a co-pay, it's the last price I heard quoted that they will charge for self-pay patients. It's actually about the same amount they receive from most insurers, which is really the only fair way to charge a patient who's self-paying. I've seen more than one bill for ablations, and typically insurers pay only about 20-30 cents on the dollar of what the hospital bills. Sounds to me like that $75K USD figure you were quoted is what they bill insurers, not what they actually receive.

Natale draws patients from all over the world, so they have a lot of self-payers. I think they have more experience with these sorts of patients than most.

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Carey

Not that I have found. I contacted 3 different providers in the US and they averaged 75,000USD which is about 100.000CD
As a Canadian we do not have private health care plans maybe you saying $45,000 is a co pay? Any way thanks for the comment its still out of my budget.

$45K isn't a co-pay, it's the last price I heard quoted that they will charge for self-pay patients. It's actually about the same amount they receive from most insurers, which is really the only fair way to charge a patient who's self-paying. I've seen more than one bill for ablations, and typically insurers pay only about 20-30 cents on the dollar of what the hospital bills. Sounds to me like that $75K USD figure you were quoted is what they bill insurers, not what they actually receive.

Natale draws patients from all over the world, so they have a lot of self-payers. I think they have more experience with these sorts of patients than most.

Thanks The pricing is confusing for someone with out insurance. I looked up Dr Natale and where he works, it appears there are many doctors in the same clinic. Are you able to choose Natale as opposed to the other EP?

I asked my EP about a study and he said they only do a certain procedure , I think he said pulmonary node ablation? He stated this when I asked about a ablation study? He said electrical currents are transient and the study is flawed because of this?

He is with the cities largest university clinic.

I forgot to mention I am going for a cardiac angiogram which he said was to map out the pulmonary vein anatomy of the upper chamber.
which we import into our mapping software for procedure planning.

I really have not seen this mentioned here in discussions?

Calvin

I was quoted $51,000 from St Davids and it says if you pay in full there's a 35% discount. Then the 3 doctors anesthesia and EP were billed around $2k each internal medicine Dr was $800. Few other odds and ends.

Hospitals and doctors billed insurance over $200,000, ended up paying $58,000 12/22/23

Think you'd be under $45k with Natale

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calvin
I looked up Dr Natale and where he works, it appears there are many doctors in the same clinic. Are you able to choose Natale as opposed to the other EP?

I asked my EP about a study and he said they only do a certain procedure , I think he said pulmonary node ablation? He stated this when I asked about a ablation study? He said electrical currents are transient and the study is flawed because of this?

Yes, if you want an ablation with Dr. Natale that's exactly who they'll schedule you with and no one else.

I don't think your EP communicated what an EP study is very well. Waving it off as flawed or unreliable isn't encouraging. An EP study is a standard component of any competent ablation. They need to know what and where they're ablating before they begin doing so, after all, and an EP study is how they do that. Maybe your EP was talking about doing an EP study as a separate procedure?