Hazem Elariny (Vienna VA) - please post a review

I am an old post op of his. doing great at 12+ years out. I will post a review as soon as I figure out where! Back then I found him to be basically a brilliant surgeon with a crappy office. I was from out of state, no one did DS in NC at the time and I waited over six hours(!) past my appt. time for my consult. (He saw me at about 8:00 pm.) Aftercare is basically non-existant, except for the one time when I was having a kidney stone issue, and then he was prompt in helping me to resolve it. I didn't care about the after care, I had done my own research, found and educated a PCP for labs. I just wanted brilliant hands and brains and I got them!
 
Just remember to ignore that insane self-identified "medical professional" woman who knew EVERYTHING about the DS and expected him, not his staff, to return every one of her stupid phone calls, and who insisted he was incompetent because he didn't want to be at her beck and call 24/7 to listen to her argue with him.

There ought to be a way to hook up patients like her to surgeons like Husted and solve lots of problems all at once.
By the way, I heard she was at it again, posting on Dr. K's board (where many of the crazies go these days).
 
My promised (long overdue) review...

Dr. Elariny performed my DS on 7/22/2014. He is a brilliant individual and surgeon, in my opinion. I was self pay and was willing to travel. I did not travel since he's local. I did not have my surgery in the hospital that he normally operates at due to them charging self pays exorbitant amounts. He worked with me to get a much better rate at another hospital he has privileges at and he negotiated a much better rate. Another plus to this (besides cost) was he was the one that did rounds and not one of his fellows.

I was in surgery about 3.5 hours and discharged just shy of 24 hours. I had told him that I have extreme nausea with pain meds and he gave me the option to have a pain ball placed during surgery that would just drip internally for about a week. It worked wonderfully! He did send me home with liquid pain meds and Zofran but they weren't needed much. I was able to sleep in my bed the first night home. After a week, I pulled my pain pump as he had instructed and all was fine. My drain was pulled several hours before I left the hospital. I like that he videoed my entire surgery and gave me a copy.

The office manager Alex was wonderful to work with. She coordinated things very well. I'm rather fond of Curtis at the front desk. He is just a sweetheart. I'm luke warm about the nutritionist at the office but have no real complaints about her.

Yes, he is busy and you do have a long wait when go to see him but he gives each patient all the time they need (no rushing) so I accept the wait knowing he will give the same attention and time to me once I'm called back. I appreciated the lengthy discussions he had with my husband and me regarding his techniques, what he's changed along the way and even discussed things that's he looks back on and thinks that although the technique worked, it wasn't the best idea. He really learns from each patient experience and it shows in his work.

My follow-up care has been wonderful. He's still very attentive. Alex still coordinates things very well (such as getting insurance to cover additional Protonix) for me. And Curtis is just as sweet as ever!

I'm nearing 8 months and I stand by my surgeon choice completely.

I've not written a review before so if I haven't addressed something that should be addressed please let me know.
 
I know this post is from a while ago but I wanted to give my experience. I had an RNY in 2004 with Dr Elariny. Back then he was a great surgeon and I had no complications. (Not a great bedside manner, and cocky and arrogant as heck)

Fast forward to February 2016. I went to see him to discuss a revision to the DS. He told me that since insurance wasn't going to pay for it that a laparoscopic DS revision could cost about $70,000!! (But he never really gave me a hard number because we were going to try to get insurance to approve it). I understand that it's a difficult procedure, but he made it seem like he was just after the money.
 
I know this post is from a while ago but I wanted to give my experience. I had an RNY in 2004 with Dr Elariny. Back then he was a great surgeon and I had no complications. (Not a great bedside manner, and cocky and arrogant as heck)

Fast forward to February 2016. I went to see him to discuss a revision to the DS. He told me that since insurance wasn't going to pay for it that a laparoscopic DS revision could cost about $70,000!! (But he never really gave me a hard number because we were going to try to get insurance to approve it). I understand that it's a difficult procedure, but he made it seem like he was just after the money.
For a point of reference, $70k is about three times what I was told Dr K would charge for an open DS. That was a virgin DS for my brother so not sure about his revision cost.
 
@Jen2016 I know for sure that Dr. Rabkin in San Francisco has a self-pay package. I don't know what the cost would be for a RNY to DS revision but it never hurts to ask. Dr. Keshishian also does a lot of these revisions and hopefully would have a self-pay rate as well. These surgeons are 2 of the best in the business, so if you are willing to travel, and if you are stuck with self-pay, call them to see what kind of costs you would have. Of course, if you can get insurance to cover your revision, that's the way to go.
 
I would also like to hear from any of Dr. Elariny's more recent patients from 2014 to present. I have a consult with him in April and haven't seen any more recent DS reviews. If you would prefer to send me a PM, I am open to that way of communicating too since this is a public subforum.
 
EXCELLENT!! Thanks Misty - I look forward to hearing about your experience with him, both for this site per se, and for my sister's situation. Safe travels!
Diana - Did your sister end up going with him? It seems he had a really good reputation for a while, but I haven't seen anything in the recent past.
 
Where are you located? Another option is Dr. Glembot in Winchester, VA. No program fees, and they participate fully with insurance (Elariny does not - he is not a preferred provider with any insurance plans).
 
I had a DS with Dr. Elariny in April 2015. He is very charming and accessible. He is an excellent surgeon. I have no complaints about how the surgery went and about how I've done afterwards.

Don't rely on his office too much for the follow-up care and nutritional advice. The information sheets on post-op eating that they gave out read as if they were for RNY patients. Last I heard, he doesn't have a nutritionist on staff (not that most nutritionists know how to advise DS patients anyway).

Payment is an issue, and I don't know how he treats self-pay patients. I believe he is not entirely on the up-and-up regarding his relationships with insurance companies. I was told that he is not "in-network" for the DS, but that he performs other procedures under the Blue Cross-Blue Shield Federal Employees network. But I'm not sure that he can be in-network for some procedures and out-of-network for others. In the end, I paid him more than I would have if he were in-network, but not as much as he had asked for. If you want more details about the payment issues with Elariny, PM me.

Hope this helps.
 
I had a DS with Dr. Elariny in April 2015. He is very charming and accessible. He is an excellent surgeon. I have no complaints about how the surgery went and about how I've done afterwards.

Don't rely on his office too much for the follow-up care and nutritional advice. The information sheets on post-op eating that they gave out read as if they were for RNY patients. Last I heard, he doesn't have a nutritionist on staff (not that most nutritionists know how to advise DS patients anyway).

Payment is an issue, and I don't know how he treats self-pay patients. I believe he is not entirely on the up-and-up regarding his relationships with insurance companies. I was told that he is not "in-network" for the DS, but that he performs other procedures under the Blue Cross-Blue Shield Federal Employees network. But I'm not sure that he can be in-network for some procedures and out-of-network for others. In the end, I paid him more than I would have if he were in-network, but not as much as he had asked for. If you want more details about the payment issues with Elariny, PM me.

Hope this helps.
I had a DS with Dr. Elariny in April 2015. He is very charming and accessible. He is an excellent surgeon. I have no complaints about how the surgery went and about how I've done afterwards.

Don't rely on his office too much for the follow-up care and nutritional advice. The information sheets on post-op eating that they gave out read as if they were for RNY patients. Last I heard, he doesn't have a nutritionist on staff (not that most nutritionists know how to advise DS patients anyway).

Payment is an issue, and I don't know how he treats self-pay patients. I believe he is not entirely on the up-and-up regarding his relationships with insurance companies. I was told that he is not "in-network" for the DS, but that he performs other procedures under the Blue Cross-Blue Shield Federal Employees network. But I'm not sure that he can be in-network for some procedures and out-of-network for others. In the end, I paid him more than I would have if he were in-network, but not as much as he had asked for. If you want more details about the payment issues with Elariny, PM me.

Hope this helps.
Hi! I would like to ask you a few questions, as I also had surgery with Dr. Elariny. I’m not sure how to get in touch with you?
 
Hi! I would like to ask you a few questions, as I also had surgery with Dr. Elariny. I’m not sure how to get in touch with you?
I got your message. I haven't been on here in years, but I got an email. I can tell you that Dr. Elariny sold my "debt" to a collection agency, but the claim is barred by the statute of limitations so I'm not too worried about it.
 
Hi! I would like to ask you a few questions, as I also had surgery with Dr. Elariny. I’m not sure how to get in touch with you?

I had revision DS surgery from Dr. E in April 2022. The revision was from a failed DS at Johns Hopkins in 2010. I also had a hiatal hernia from a VBG that Dr. E offered in 2004, resulting in a lot of acid reflux and aspiration. In the middle of the operation, he had to correct an internal hernia created by the Johns Hopkins doc. I just got my Federal BCBS EOB. The final bill his office charged was over $58k. I self-paid over $15k and was assured his office would file with insurance. Insurance approved certain things, but basically insurance paid things minus a decimal point from his charges (eep!), and then said I wasn't responsible for a couple of other things. I'm concerned about finances, or what happens now. I've asked for an itemized bill since all my EOB says "surgery". Feel free to message me Dogmom or OldBroad!

Edit to update: Appeals are starting. There must be some coding errors on the Insurance side. I'll keep you posted. Meanwhile, I'm getting stronger and stronger by the day. Recovery has been frustratingly slow, but I'm so glad I did the surgeries. No more acid reflux or aspiration!!
 
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