Goodbye Diet Season, Hello Telehealth GLP-1 Season
We do not feel any nostalgia for “diet season.” None. Its demise was apparent two years ago. But in its place, it seems we have a telehealth GLP-1 season. Rebel Wilson is screaming at us to sign up for microdosing with a GLP-1. Put those ads together with somewhat calmer advertising from Ro and Hims, and you can have a pretty good idea of what the marketing blitz of GLP-1 telehealth season is shaping up to be.
The trade of Rebel Wilson shouting from a mountaintop about microdosing a sketchy compounded GLP-1 is not much of an improvement from endless PR about fad diets.
An Essential Role for Telehealth
With that said, it’s also important to note that telehealth has an important role to play in delivering obesity care at scale. Recently in Obesity, Beverly Tchang and colleagues published data on outcomes from obesity care in the telehealth setting, analyzing data from the Ro system. They concluded:
“Findings support the use of telehealth, especially asynchronous models with structured support, as a safe and effective option for delivering obesity care to the relevant studied population. This study encourages clinicians and researchers to further explore telehealth as a modality that can expand access to evidence-based obesity treatment.”
Defining Standards of Care
Obesity care in the telehealth setting is relatively new. The Obesity Medicine Association published a clinical practice statement in 2022 on incorporating telehealth into an obesity medicine practice. It is exhaustive but not terribly specific about minimum standards of care for the telehealth setting.
In the American Diabetes Association 2026 Standards of Care for Diabetes, there is support for flexibility in delivering care through telehealth. But you won’t find much that’s specific to obesity care and not much to guide standards of care that would apply to telehealth services that are emerging in obesity.
It is this lack of a clear articulation of standards that leads many to describe the telehealth setting as a “wild west” of obesity care.
Clear Guidance Needed
So it should be plain to everyone that clear guidance on standards of care for the obesity telehealth setting is needed. Until such standards emerge and mature, people seeking care in this setting would do well to proceed with caution. There are providers who are delivering a high standard of care, using carefully designed systems for to assure the quality of care. There are others who are simply out to make a buck, hawking sketchy compounded GLP-1s and weight loss promises.
Caveat emptor.
Click here for the OMA clinical practice statement on telehealth in obesity medicine and here for a perspective on the utility of telemedicine in obesity care.
Still Image from Advertising by Noom, January 2026
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January 2, 2026
