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. […]
April 17, 2023 — Writing about The Whale in Psychology Today, counselor Kari Anderson tells us the movie brings a story into view that we look away from too often. “Real people with real stories are suffering, feeling trapped in their own bodies and unable to leave their homes,” she writes. This is uncomfortable viewing for many people because, […]
April 12, 2023 — Two innovations in health systems and health policy – PBMs and biosimilars – are supposed to save us money on drugs. But so far, it looks like the joke is on us. PBMs (pharmacy benefit managers) can actually drive prices higher. Their stated purpose is just the opposite – to drive drug costs down. Adding […]
February 28, 2023 — To be sure, fear of change is understandable. The number of people living with obesity and suffering its complications has grown large. Achieving a balance between treating a problem like obesity and preventing it is tricky. To make it worse, we are living in a time when the media has figured out that fear and […]
January 15, 2023 — Workers at the largest health system in the U.S., HCA, this week accused the system of putting profits ahead of patient care and health. We regularly hear from obesity care providers about insurers using lame excuses to deny coverage for obesity meds or surgery for lame reasons. This happens even when the health plan covers […]
