Posts Tagged ‘ASMBS’

10 Highlights of Obesity Week Not to Miss

November 7, 2013 — The first ever Obesity Week meeting opens on Monday in Atlanta and runs for the entire week at the Georgia World Congress Center. With both the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery and the Obesity Society meeting at once, you’ll need to plan very carefully if you’re going to be sure you don’t miss […]

CMS Ditches Obesity Surgery Quality Standards

September 26, 2013 — Seven years after imposing obesity surgery quality standards for Medicare, CMS (the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) has decided to drop them entirely. Folks with their own (competing) standards had lobbied CMS to decide that the current standards weren’t working well enough and that they reduced access to care for some patients. To the […]

CMS Questions Value for Bariatric Centers of Excellence

June 29, 2013 — In a proposed decision memo, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and  Medicaid (CMS) services concludes that certification requirements for bariatric centers of excellence “do not improve health outcomes for Medicare beneficiaries.” And thus, CMS is proposing to remove the requirement for bariatric centers of excellence to receive reimbursement for Medicare patients. This proposed decision was […]

Time for a Treat Obesity Caucus

November 3, 2012 — November 6, 2012 — In October, The Obesity Society began laying the groundwork for a caucus focused on obesity by reaching out to every senate office. Caucuses are groups of congressional members who band together to advocate or vote for shared policy interests. Caucuses have been established for a wide range of health issues including […]

Obesity Experts Urge Sibelius to Treat Obesity Seriously in Health Plans

October 29, 2012 — The Obesity Society, the Obesity Action Coalition, and several other highly respected clinical obesity and nutrition groups submitted a joint comment letter to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regarding federal oversight of state benchmark health plan selections. In the next few months, as a provision of the health care reform law, HHS […]

Obesity Experts Meet with Senior FDA Officials on the Need for Innovation

March 22, 2011 — On March 22, representatives of four major groups concerned with obesity met with senior officials from the FDA to discuss the concerns about barriers to innovation in the treatment of obesity. Leaders from the Obesity Society, Obesity Action Coalition, American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, and the American Dietetic Association met with Janet Woodcock, […]