• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

SAGES

Reimagining surgical care for a healthier world

  • Home
    • COVID-19 Annoucements
    • Search
    • SAGES Home
    • SAGES Foundation Home
  • About
    • Who is SAGES?
    • SAGES Mission Statement
    • Strategic Plan, 2020-2023
    • Committees
      • Request to Join a SAGES Committee
      • SAGES Board of Governors
      • Officers and Representatives of the Society
      • Committee Chairs and Co-Chairs
      • Full Committee Rosters
      • SAGES Past Presidents
    • Donate to the SAGES Foundation
    • Awards
      • George Berci Award
      • Pioneer in Surgical Endoscopy
      • Excellence In Clinical Care
      • International Ambassador
      • IRCAD Visiting Fellowship
      • Social Justice and Health Equity
      • Excellence in Community Surgery
      • Distinguished Service
      • Early Career Researcher
      • Researcher in Training
      • Jeff Ponsky Master Educator
      • Excellence in Medical Leadership
      • Barbara Berci Memorial Award
      • Brandeis Scholarship
      • Advocacy Summit
      • RAFT Annual Meeting Abstract Contest and Awards
  • Meetings
    • 2022 NBT Innovation Weekend
    • SAGES Annual Meeting
      • 2023 Scientific Session Call For Abstracts
      • 2023 Emerging Technology Call For Abstracts
    • SAGES 2021 Annual Meeting
    • CME Claim Form
    • Industry
      • Advertising Opportunities
      • Exhibit Opportunities
      • Sponsorship Opportunities
    • Future Meetings
    • Past Meetings
      • SAGES 2021
      • SAGES 2020
      • SAGES 2019
      • SAGES 2018
    • Related Meetings Calendar
  • Join SAGES!
    • Membership Benefits
    • Membership Applications
      • Active Membership
      • Affiliate Membership
      • Associate Active Membership
      • Candidate Membership
      • International Membership
      • Medical Student Membership
    • Member News
      • Member Spotlight
      • Give the Gift of SAGES Membership
  • Patients
    • Healthy Sooner – Patient Information for Minimally Invasive Surgery
    • Patient Information Brochures
    • Choosing Wisely – An Initiative of the ABIM Foundation
    • All in the Recovery: Colorectal Cancer Alliance
    • Find a SAGES Member
  • Publications
    • SAGES Stories Podcast
    • SAGES Clinical / Practice / Training Guidelines, Statements, and Standards of Practice
    • Patient Information Brochures
    • TAVAC – Technology and Value Assessments
    • Surgical Endoscopy and Other Journal Information
    • SAGES Manuals
    • SCOPE – The SAGES Newsletter
    • COVID-19 Annoucements
    • Troubleshooting Guides
  • Education
    • OpiVoid.org
    • SAGES.TV Video Library
    • Safe Cholecystectomy Program
      • Safe Cholecystectomy Didactic Modules
    • Masters Program
      • SAGES Facebook Program Collaboratives
      • Acute Care Surgery
      • Bariatric
      • Biliary
      • Colorectal
      • Flexible Endoscopy (upper or lower)
      • Foregut
      • Hernia
      • Robotics
    • Educational Opportunities
    • HPB/Solid Organ Program
    • Courses for Residents
      • Advanced Courses
      • Basic Courses
    • Video Based Assessments (VBA)
    • Robotics Fellows Course
    • MIS Fellows Course
    • Facebook Livestreams
    • Free Webinars For Residents
    • SMART Enhanced Recovery Program
    • SAGES OR SAFETY Video
    • SAGES at Cine-Med
      • SAGES Top 21 MIS Procedures
      • SAGES Pearls
      • SAGES Flexible Endoscopy 101
      • SAGES Tips & Tricks of the Top 21
  • Opportunities
    • SAGES Fellowship Certification for Advanced GI MIS and Comprehensive Flexible Endoscopy
    • Foregut Fellowship Certification
    • SAGES Research Opportunities
    • Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery
    • Fundamentals of Endoscopic Surgery
    • Fundamental Use of Surgical Energy
    • Job Board
    • SAGES Go Global: Global Affairs and Humanitarian Efforts
  • Search
    • Search All SAGES Content
    • Search SAGES Guidelines
    • Search the Video Library
    • Search the Image Library
    • Search the Abstracts Archive
  • Blog
    • COVID-19
    • Notes from the Battlefield
    • A (Positive) Way Forward
    • President Posts
    • All Blog Posts
  • Log In

Should Insurance Companies Require Structured Attempts at Weight Loss As a Condition for Approval of Weigth Loss Surgery?

Abraham J Frech, MD, Arpan Goel, MD, Tovy H Kamine, MD, Robert A Andrews, MD, Daniel B Jones, MD, Benjamin E Schneider, MD. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School

 

Introduction:
Insurance companies frequently require patients to have participated in structured attempts at weight loss as a prerequisite for weight loss surgery approval. This begs the questions whether such interventions affect surgical weight loss outcomes; and/or does the number of attempts at non-operative weight loss have any effect on outcomes? The aim of our study was to determine if the number of preoperative attempts at weight loss correlated with postoperative success after WLS.

Methods and Procedures:
Between September and December 2010, 108 surveys were collected from postoperative patients weight loss surgery patients at an academic medical center. Patients included in the survey underwent either Roux-en-Y gastric bypass or adjustable gastric band. Of the 108 collected surveys, 14 were excluded as incomplete. The remaining 94 surveys that were complete were analyzed. The patients reported their type of diet and the number of preoperative attempts at weight loss. We divided patients into three groups based upon the number of attempts at weight loss in advance of surgery (Table 1).
Table 1
Groups          Preoperative attempts       Patients
Low                0-3 Attempts                   N = 52
Moderate        4-6 Attempts                   N = 32
High               7+ Attempts                    N = 10

Results:
Time                            Patients      Correlation Coefficient      P value
1 month post op           N = 94           0.22                            0.03
1 year post op              N = 61           0.11                            0.40
2 years post op            N = 40           0.16                            0.34
Table 2: Number of patients at each time point and correlation coefficient and p value between increasing attempts and weight loss (where a correlation coefficient of 1 is a perfect correlation).

At one month following surgery, there was a significant correlation between the number of previous attempts and actual weight loss (correlation coefficient of 0.22, p 0.03). Beyond one month (1 and 2 years), there was no correlation between actual weight loss and the number of prior attempts at dieting.

Conclusion:
While multiple attempts at dieting predicted better weight loss at one month, these differences were not durable. Patients who had dieted once or twice were just as likely to do well at 1 and 2 years as those who dieted more frequently. There is little outcome based justification that an arbitrary number of diets should be required for insurance preauthorization prior to weight loss surgery.


Session Number: SS09 – Obesity Surgery
Program Number: S057

70

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • WhatsApp
  • Reddit

Related

« Return to SAGES 2012 abstract archive

Our Mission

Innovate, educate and collaborate to improve patient care.

Recently, on SAGES…

Surgery is Safer with Vaccination 1

Addressing Religious Concerns About COVID-19 Vaccine

This may be a difficult subject matter for you and your patient to talk about.  Be assured, all major organized religious groups encourage and recommend the COVID-19 vaccine. Listed below are references and websites you can direct your patient towards to help them make an informed decision with regards to their religious concerns against the […]

SAGES Statement on AAPI Violence

The Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) stands in solidarity with the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. In the summer of 2020, SAGES released a statement condemning the violence, racism, and hatred toward the Black community in the wake of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor’s murders. It is with great sorrow […]

Free SAGES Webinar: Lessons from COVID on Living and Thriving as Surgeons

SAGES recognizes that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a big impact on surgical practice and in surgeon wellness. SAGES’ Reimagining the Practice of Surgery Taskforce will present “Finding the Opportunities: Lessons from COVID and How We Live and Thrive as Surgeons”  to look at ways in which innovative leadership at various levels may help transform […]

Contact SAGES

Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons
11300 W. Olympic Blvd Suite 600
Los Angeles, CA 90064 USA
[email protected]
Tel: (310) 437-0544

Find Us Around the Web!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Important Links

SAGES 2022 Meeting Information

Healthy Sooner: Patient Information

SAGES Guidelines, Statements, & Standards of Practice

SAGES Manuals

 

  • taTME Study Info
  • Foundation
  • SAGES.TV
  • MyCME
  • Educational Activities

Copyright © 2022 Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons