A win for those seeking the next step in obesity care!

If you or someone you know is suffering from the disease of obesity please forward, re-post on your facebook wall or re-tweet!

As many of you know, the path to surgical intervention for weight loss can be long, frustrating and tedious. The pre-operative 6 month diet and it's effects on surgical and weight loss outcomes have been studied. Several studies have concluded that the 6 month pre-operative diet does not improve weight loss or surgical outcomes. The American Society of Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery (ASMBS) has reviewed the research and issued the following statement,

"the requirement for documentation of prolonged preoperative diet efforts before health insurance carrier approval of bariatric surgery services is inappropriate, capricious, and counter-productive given the complete absence of a reasonable level of medical evidence to support this practice. Policies such as these that delay, impede or otherwise interfere with life-saving and cost-effective treatment, as have been proven to be true for bariatric surgery to treat morbid obesity, are unacceptable without supporting evidence."

Thanks to the Illinois Chapter of the ASMBS, who fought diligently, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas have dropped the 6 month medically supervised diet requirement prior to surgical intervention for morbid obesity.

This is a true win for individuals suffering from the disease of obesity seeking the next step in care, surgical intervention. It should be noted, however, that this DOES NOT indicate that nutrition and an understanding of the lifestyle changes required for post-operative success and health are not important. An adequate level of knowledge and the ability to apply new behaviors is still just as important.

At Franciscan St. James Center for Bariatric Surgery we have been and will continue to be diligent and steadfast in our lifestyle education, follow-up care and support for each and every one of our patients.

This policy change affords those with the disease of obesity greater access to care the (s)he deserves.