September 28, 2024 — Since forever, health systems have been closed to the need for obesity care. While obesity prevalence tripled, care providers, health plans, and even government policy doubled down on a simple response. “Your obesity is not our problem. It’s yours. Go away, eat less, move more, and come back when you’ve lost 25, 50, or 100 […]
September 26, 2024 — It was an interesting day that we spent talking with health policy makers in the Senate yesterday. Refreshing in a way, because the conversations about obesity are so different from the conversations we were having just a few years ago. Not a single person raised the false issue of “personal responsibility” for “being obese.” Only […]
September 6, 2024 — Think about it. Profound change is coming to healthcare and health systems because of the imperative for obesity care at scale. Right now, we are seeing only a faint glimmer of the changes that lie ahead. That’s because the biggest struggles with this change are very basic. Lilly and Novo Nordisk are straining to produce […]
July 11, 2024 — “Not everything is healthcare,” writes Chris Pope in an essay for the Wall Street Journal, questioning policy advocates who focus on disparity in social determinants of health. In his commentary, he expresses doubt about diverting money from healthcare to other social programs: “Social theories of health have become so popular because they allow states, nonprofit […]
May 23, 2024 — “This is a dream come true.” In her opening presentation yesterday to a diverse group of experts in cardiology, endocrinology, and healthcare, the renowned Donna Ryan was marveling at the broad interest surfacing in serious obesity care – reaching far beyond the limited bubble where it stayed for decades. The American College of Cardiology assembled […]
April 28, 2024 — Daniella Lamas is a critical care physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. She recalls telling the wife of a patient who was dying something she did not want to hear about her husband’s care. The woman told Lamas: “Why should I believe you? I don’t think that I do.” The Imperative for Trust […]
March 9, 2024 — It’s official. FDA now says that semaglutide, in doses used to treat obesity, can prevent heart attacks, strokes, and deaths in persons with cardiovascular disease and overweight or obesity. This is nothing short of the dawn of a new era in obesity treatment. FDA Division Director John Sharretts said it clearly: “This patient population has […]
March 6, 2024 — One of the core principles Obesity Care Week is that this chronic disease is treatable. That’s becoming plain to see with emergence of advanced GLP-1 therapies. But equity in access to obesity care is practically non-existent. Prices for these medicines are high, supplies are low, and health plans make a sport of torturing people who […]
March 1, 2024 — In a new cohort study, it is plain to see that, even before the advent of new GLP-1 medicines for obesity, primary care patients could get better health from obesity care. But health systems hindering delivery of obesity care make this exceedingly unlikely for most people living this disease. A Large Cohort Study from an […]
October 19, 2023 — The week that was OW2023 is history now, leaving us to reflect on what we will remember from this gathering of the top minds in obesity science, clinical care, and health policy. The meeting comes at a pivotal time for obesity care, so we have much to learn from the people who came together here. […]
