2020-12-15 OMA Agenda - Board of Trustees

In the management of patients with obesity, how are telehealth and traditional offices visit similar; how are they different?

Many of the components of the OMA “ADAPT” telehealth obesity management model mirror the traditional obesity medicine face-to-face clinician office visit. These similarities include: A ssessment (e.g., history, vital signs and physical exam); D iagnosis (e.g., determining the etiology and severity of a disease); and A dvice (e.g., education and counseling on nutrition, physical activity, anti-obesity medications, and bariatric surgery – all augmented via motivational interviewing techniques and implementation of behavior modification. This model also includes P rognosis (e.g., create an understanding of the current and future status of obesity as a disease in an individual patient, with realistic assessment of outcomes and T reatment (e.g., nutrition, physical activity, anti-obesity mediations, and bariatric surgery). Where obesity medicine via telehealth may differ from traditional clinician office visits includes need to mutually accessible and effective teleplatforms (e.g., video conferencing or telephone), vital sign measurements (e.g., via home versus office devices), physical exam (e.g., with some limitations via telehealth), and coding for encounters, as well as need to implement an informed consent process wherein the patient agrees to telehealth visits and prescribing of controlled substances. Despite these differences, if implemented via a practical, patient-centered approach, telehealth has the potential to provide obesity management in a way that is not only more convenient and accessible to patients, but perhaps more therapeutically and cost-effective. Table 2 provides practical “tips” on telehealth for obesity management.

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