I find it incomprehensible of a wait time of 3-4 months to get an EUS and ERCP. When I exhibited symptoms, I chose an NCI designated center of excellence with a hepatobiliary and pancreas programs. When a STAT ordered CT imaged a neoplasm in the head of the pancreas, an EUS was performed the next morning and an EUS the following day.

The following links list both NCI designated centers of excellence and comprehensive cancer centers that have pancreas programs. The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCan.org) has case managers that can provide names of specialized centers where the EUS and ERCP are done frequently and may have a shorter interval to have the procedure done.

CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE

One problem is going to another center is whether one’s health insurance if not on Medicare will have a restriction on out-of-network medical centers in providing coverage. For those that chose an HMO over a PPO plan, it will restrict patients to an in-network facility. Unfortunately many people never expect they will be affected by a catastrophic illness and realize savings in premiums comes at a very high cost to surviving such an illness.