Preparing For Your Appointment or Visit

At Benefit Health Care, we want you to feel comfortable and prepared for your outpatient visit, hospital stay, procedure or surgery.

Before Your Outpatient Procedure

At least one day before your outpatient procedure, complete your preoperative (pre-op) consultation. Often, you’ll be able to do this by phone. If we need to meet with you in person, plan for your appointment to last from 30 minutes to one hour.

We value your time and want to make scheduling your pre-op consultation as convenient as possible. Schedule your appointment by calling our patient coordinators at 319.221.1667 Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Before Your Inpatient Stay

To save time at check-in, you can preregister online.

Review your insurance coverage and make sure you understand the payments you are responsible for, generally your copay and/or deductible. If you need assistance, call your insurance provider before your admission.

What to Bring

Items you need for admission:

• Insurance cards
• A list of all medications you currently take
• Photo identification (driver’s license or passport)
• Social Security number
• Living will and other advance directives, if you have them
• HMO/PPO referral forms, if required
• Medical records, X-ray films or previous test results, if your physician has requested them
• Written letter of authorization from your insurance carrier, if you're covered by worker's compensation
• A check or credit card for deductibles, copayments or deposits

Items you may want for your stay:

• Personal toiletries, such as shampoo, toothpaste and toothbrush
• Bathrobe and slippers or socks
• A list with names, doses and schedules of all medications you take on a routine basis; do not bring any of these medications with you to the hospital unless your doctor asks you to do so
• Glasses, dentures, hearing aids or any other assistive device you may need
• Clothes to wear when you go home

Leave all valuable items such as cash, jewelry and electronics at home.

Preparing for Your Procedure

In addition to information you receive from your doctor’s office about how to prepare for your upcoming hospital stay or procedure, check the following items to help you prepare for your stay at Benefit Health Care;

• Check with your insurance carrier about coverage of your procedure.
• Learn more about preparing for surgery at Benefit Health Care.
• Gather information about what to expect before, during and after your specific procedure in our online Health Library.