VasWeb doctors are all Board-Certified Urologists. We limit our practice to office-based vasectomy and vasectomy reversal, so we really don't need hospital privileges. Early in 2025, CIGNA notified our practice that CIGNA requires all urologists to have privileges at a hospital. For years, a family medicine doctor was employed by VasWeb and did not hove hospital privileges, but CIGNA never questioned that and he remained credentialed with the company from 2016 until his relocation in 2023. So this 2025 regulation is very new to us. To our knowledge, no other health insurance carrier mandates that doctors who perform vasectomies have hospital privileges.
Dr. Galante joined VasWeb in 2023, but privileges that he had at a distant Florida hospital have expired, and as of June 30, 2025, he was no longer a provider for Cigna. As of January 2026, he has acquired hospital privileges at AdventHealth Tampa, and should soon be cleared by Cigna to provide vasectomy for patients with Cigna insurance. Dr. Samplaski moved to Florida from California in early 2025 and has never had privileges at a Florida hospital, so has never been a credentialed CIGNA provider.
As of January 4, 2026, the only VasWeb doctor who is credentialed with Cigna is Dr. Doug Stein. So if a patient with Cigna insurance wants Cigna to "cover" his vasectomy through VasWeb (get the Cigna rate of $505.09 and have Cigna apply his payment toward his annual deductible, or pay all or part of the $505.09 if he has met his deductible), he will have to have his vasectomy with Dr. Stein. For greater flexibility of scheduling, he may have his vasectomy with Dr. Galante or Dr. Samplaski, but at our standard fee of $690 because Drs. Galante and Samplaski are still considered "out of network". We will still file a claim, and if Cigna pays us for "out-of-network" coverage, we will reimburse that payment to the patient.
We know this sounds complicated, but those are the complexities of the American healthcare insurance. As a consumer, you have a choice of healthcare providers and insurance carriers.