UNC Hospitals Imaging & Spine Center

Went in for my 7.30AM Monday morning MRI. I had received my confirmation/​reminder call from a human last Friday. I find out at check in that my MRI hasn’t been authorized by Cigna yet but i could sign a waiver taking financial responsibility for it. I am told that ‘…this happens all the time.’ I am sent to see the financial counselor who seems to have practiced her indifference (i think her name was Amanda, not sure). Basically her response is ‘not our fault, it’s Cigna. they need more time to review’. Then i find out that they didn’t call for authorization until the Friday before my Monday appointment, which i had made 2 weeks prior. UNC policy is to call 1 – 3 days ahead, regardless of when you make the appointment. Absolutely absurd –especially to wait until the Friday before my 7.30AM appointment!
I’m then told they could try to expedite the approval and i can wait around and they’ll see if they could fit me in! i have a job. i have to work. i cannot sit around all day hoping to get in to an appointment.
Level of incompetence was only exceeded by their practiced indifference. They couldn’t have acted less concerned or contrite if they tried. i will try to NEVER deal with these people again.

So far, my experience has been disappointing. I had a spine fusion 10 years ago (different country, different hospital).
In Dec, I went to the spine clinic with back pain. Before going, I contacted the doctor to know if he could answer the questions I had, based on my medical history. This, because I had already seen an orthopaedic doctor who didn’t seem to have answers. My consultation yielded no such answers. I was told that I could be given no information without having an MRI. The doctor did mention that 22 was ‘too young’ for when my surgery was performed (not that we could undo that). He was going on vacation after that so he didn’t plan to see me for over a month. This, while I already had numbness/​burning/​tingling in both my legs. Since I was scheduled to go back to my home country, he himself encouraged me to seek an appointment with my original doctor.
So I went back to my home country, saw my doctor, had an MRI and saw my doctor again– all in the same day.
Now the UNC spine center wants me to ALSO pay $ 130 for the ‘consultation’ here which yielded no results. Apparently ‘UNC Care’ means you make an appointment and the doctor sees you so that he gets paid for it.

I had a herniated disc in my lumbar spine. I came to UNC for a second opinion on surgery, and I just felt more comfortable working with Dr. Lim. Originally, based on my MRI and other information, Dr. Lim thought we could try to avoid surgery. We tried everything, but in the end, we had to go with an discectomy/​decompression.
Dr. Lim and the UNC team were great. I felt very educated and at ease with what was going on. The surgery was actually at the hospital, but my pre and post op appointments were in this spine center building that’s relatively new on Raleigh Road. It’s a nice facility and wait times aren’t too bad. You can get your X-​Rays and MRIs right in the building here so it is convenient.
It was re-​assuring to have a new facility focused specifically on the spine. They also have a physical therapy office here. We tried a few exercises before surgery to see if it would fix things. They are certified in the McKenzie method, which is highly regarded for spine issues. They idea was to try a few appointments but not drag it out over the course of months. After a few tries with little to no improvement, we knew surgery was the call to make.
My surgery recovery has been excellent (surgery was December 2012). I didn’t even need the post-​op painkiller drugs. I give a lot of credit to Dr. Lim for doing a great job and getting in and out cleanly. He always told me to call him whenever I needed and gave me his personal cell, though we never had any concerns or questions to bother him outside of our appointments. My surgery involved a small incision and no fusion or anything. I’m expecting a full recovery and hope to be skating again later this summer.
As an aside, I was also reassured to see that UNC did not use the medications from NECC which had the fungal meningitis outbreak in 2012. I had previously had injections at Duke and they *did* get their medicine from NECC, but thankfully mine was not on of the tainted samples.
I dealt with pain for more than 12 months. In retrospect, I wish I would have made the call for surgery sooner, but exhausting all of the options was good peace of mind. I whole-​heartedly recommend the UNC staff. Go Heels!