2020-10-29 OMA Agenda - Board of Trustees

members. Additional education and resources for primary care providers are needed to minimize the fear of harming patients.

6. Professional education for healthcare practitioners should be comprehensive and collaborative. Ongoing professional education, including continuing medical education credits, should be offered specifically for obesity care. This education should be a multispecialty collaborative effort. Educational tracks within the annual conferences for professional societies, including those focused on primary care, may be a way to disseminate current, evidence-based obesity care information. Obesity medicine and surgery experts, including members of the multidisciplinary team, should be available and invited to speak or participate in primary care or specialty educational opportunities to deliver the most current evidence-based recommendations. 7. Insurance Coverage issues remain a barrier for obesity treatment. A major barrier to receiving adequate obesity treatment is insurance coverage. 48 Coverage benefits for nutritional and behavioral counseling, anti-obesity pharmacotherapy, endoscopic procedures, and bariatric surgery remain inadequate and inconsistent. When available, these benefits carry such stringent eligibility criteria that may result in making most effective treatment options unattainable to many patients. In 2015, the National Conference of Insurance Legislators urged state legislatures to prioritize obesity prevention and treatment, yet the response has been slow. 25,49,50 Previous research has shown that the initial costs for bariatric surgery are offset within 2-4 years postoperative. 51

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