The first step is filling out our interest form here. We will be in touch within one day regarding the next steps, which will include a more detailed intake form as well as a list of information that we will need. Once we have your information, you can schedule a phone call or office visit with Dr. Boone.

If you know your calcium and PTH results, you can plug them into our online Parathyroid Analysis Tool, which can help you interpret them. If you need more help, Dr. Boone provides free evaluations of symptoms and labs. Please complete this form for your evaluation.

Yes! Dr. Boone has board certification with the American Board of Surgery. She completed a general surgery residency and endocrine surgery fellowship (training after residency). She is also a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (FACS) and a Fellow of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinology (FACE).

Parents sometimes ask why they should travel here (some coming from other countries) given the other choices they have and we've prepared a page on our site that lists out some of the reasons why we are different than other practices. Why come to the Southwest Parathyroid Center?

The first step is filling out our interest form here. We will be in touch within one day regarding the next steps, which will include a more detailed intake form as well as a list of information that we will need. Once we have your information, you can schedule a phone call or office visit with Dr. Boone.

If you know your calcium and PTH results, you can plug them into our online Parathyroid Analysis Tool, which can help you interpret them. If you need more help, Dr. Boone provides free evaluations of symptoms and labs. Please complete this form for your evaluation.

Every patient needs to be evaluated by Dr. Boone and have a consultation before an operation can be booked. Dr. Boone wants to evaluate your individual case, review your entire medical and surgical history, determine whether surgery is the best option for you, discuss relevant issues for your case, and then go over aspects of the operation. She also wants to make sure that all of your questions have been answered.

In almost all cases, patients can go home (or back to the hotel) around 2 hours after the parathyroid operation. There are rare instances when we will keep someone in the hospital overnight, if that is deemed the safest option. Most people do better when they are able to leave and sleep in their own beds (or a resort bed!). Occasionally, someone will need to stay in the hospital overnight and then go home in the morning.

Phoenix has a wide selection of hotels and resorts and we'd be happy to recommend some of the hotels in the area with easy access to the hospital. This Google Search will get you started. If you need specific recommendations please do not hesitate to contact the office!

I frequently receive this question due to misunderstandings from patients on what type of anesthesia is used for this operation. Yes, I use general anesthesia for my parathyroid operations. This is because I want the best outcomes for my patients. General anesthesia is a broad term, but basically it means that you are asleep for the procedure. It might sound scary and risky, but actually it is the SAFEST way to do a four-gland parathyroid operation. Some websites (including the Norman Parathyroid Center) imply they do not perform "general anesthesia", but having operated there for many years patients did not receive or "twilight anesthesia" or "awake sedation" - they received general anesthesia. If you are not sure what anesthesia your surgeon is using, be sure to ask them! If you have any questions about the anesthesia that is used

Yes, all jewelry should be removed, including your wedding ring. If this is not possible, let us know when you are at the hospital or surgery center.

Unfortunately, that is not an option. The OR galleries that you see on TV do not exist in most modern ORs. Recording the operation is not currently available.

The complication rate is very low - under 1%. The complications that we look out for are: 1. Postoperative bleeding. This is a risk with any procedure, and if it is going to happen it is typically going to happen the day of surgery. 2. Voice changes due to recurrent laryngeal nerve injury. This is a risk with any neck operation, though fortunately very rare. It can happen if the parathyroid tumor is stuck along the nerve, because in that case you need to carefully separate the nerve and the parathyroid tumor. When we have to do that, patients usually still wake up talking normally, but occasionally someone will have a soft and hoarse voice while it is healing. It is almost always temporary. 3. A long-term complication of the operation is hypoparathyroidism. This means that you don’t have enough PTH to regulate your calcium levels, and you have low calcium levels. We try to prevent this by always leaving in some parathyroid tissue. Even if all four parathyroid glands are diseased, we never want to remove all four because you do need some parathyroid tissue.

This is called parathyroid hyperplasia. In this case, we do not want to remove all four. We always want to leave behind enough parathyroid tissue so that you can still maintain normal calcium levels. The best way to do this is to look at all four glands before deciding which ones should be removed, and then try to leave in the most normal-appearing gland. Sometimes I will leave in pieces of two glands, to avoid any risk of hypoparathyroidism (having too little PTH).

In almost all cases, patients can go home (or back to the hotel) around 2 hours after the parathyroid operation. There are rare instances when we will keep someone in the hospital overnight, if that is deemed the safest option. Most people do better when they are able to leave and sleep in their own beds (or a resort bed!). Occasionally, someone will need to stay in the hospital overnight and then go home in the morning.

Parathyroid tumors are almost always benign, so cancer is typically not something we are concerned about! But if there is anything unusual on the pathology report, we will let you know as soon as we get the results. It typically takes a few business days for the path report.

This will vary by patient. For most people, we recommend taking around 1500 to 1600 mg of calcium daily for the first week, in divided doses. If you are taking Barimelts chewable calcium, this means taking 6 pills a day. If you are taking a different supplement, we will help you figure out your dosing on the day of surgery. If your calcium supplement does not contain Vitamin D, then we recommend getting a separate Vitamin D and taking 2,000 units daily. For the second week after surgery, most people will drop down to 1,000 mg of calcium per day (e.g. 4 Barimelts). After the second week, your calcium recommendation will depend on your bones. If you have osteoporosis, then we recommend staying on 1,000 mg daily. If not, then you can drop down to 500 or 600 mg daily. NOTE: Calcium supplements will often list the dosing by serving - that is, the bottle may advertise “600 mg” on the front of the bottle. You need to look on the back of the bottle to see the serving size. If the serving size is “2 pills” then each pill only contains 300 mg!

For patients within the state of Arizona: Insurance will cover an office visit or telehealth consultation. The amount you pay will depend on your individual plan. We are in Medicare and most of the large insurance plans. If we are not in-network or you do not have insurance, the consultation fee is $525.

For patients who live outside Arizona: We provide second opinion consultations for those living outside Arizona, but are not able to bill insurance for this. The fee is $525, the same as for patients within state. If you would like to travel to Arizona for an office visit that insurance will cover, you can. Otherwise, you will be responsible for the second opinion consultation fee. If you come to Arizona for surgery, insurance will cover the operation.

Important: We never want money to be the reason someone cannot get the care they need. If you are unable to afford the consultation fee, please reach out to us. You can call us at 480-542-6509 or email at contact@swparathyroid.com.

Yes, we take insurance for all office visits and parathyroid operations.

We are in network for most of the major insurance networks, including Medicare, United Healthcare, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, and Banner Health Network. Your costs will depend on your individual plan. Please contact us for help in determining whether we are in your plan.

If you have insurance but Dr. Boone is not in your network, her fee for the consultation and parathyroid operation is $2,325 (this includes a consultation fee of $525 and surgery fee of $1,800). This does not include fees to the hospital, anesthesiologist, or pathologist. If you do not have any insurance or will be paying cash for the entire operation, please see the answer below.

Short answer: If you have no insurance coverage in the U.S., or do not wish to use insurance, then the total cost for the operation is $9,700.

Longer answer: There are several fees involved: the surgeon's, the hospital's or surgery center's facility fee, the fee for anesthesiology, the fee for pathology (to review the parathyroid specimens removed), and the fee for radiology if you are getting a same-day scan. We have negotiated a surgery center self-pay rate of $9,700, which includes facility fees, surgeon fees, anesthesiology fees, and pathology fees. It does not include a sestamibi scan, so if you need to have this done there is an extra fee. You will not receive any surprise bills! Dr. Boone absolutely hates surprise billing, and is committed to not letting that happen to her patients. If you do receive a bill you are not expecting, please let us know immediately!

Note that this is only for patients paying cash - meaning NOT using insurance! If you have insurance and are using insurance, we cannot guarantee the prices listed above. If you have a very high deductible health insurance plan (that is, your deductible is $12,000 or more) and you are not close to meeting your deductible, you may be better off paying cash and not using insurance at all. We have negotiated the above rates for patients paying cash. Once insurance is used, the hospital and other providers will bill what they would usually bill insurance - which may be higher than these rates.