Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

9-2016

Journal

Obesity Science and Practice

Volume

2

Issue

3

Inclusive Pages

266–271

DOI

10.1002/osp4.53

Abstract

Introduction

Rates of obesity pharmacotherapy use, bariatric surgery and intensive behavioural counselling have been extremely low.

Objectives

The primary objective of this study was to survey healthcare provider beliefs, practice and knowledge regarding obesity management.

Methods

Primary care physicians (PCPs), OB‐GYN physicians and nurse practitioners (NPs) responded to a web‐based survey related to drug therapy practice, bariatric surgery referral and reimbursement coding practice.

Results

Rates of reported use of obesity pharmacotherapy appear to be increasing among PCPs, which is likely related to the approval of four new obesity pharmacotherapy agents since 2012. Rates of pharmacotherapy use among OB‐GYNs and NPs appear much lower. Similarly, few PCPs are averse to recommending bariatric surgery, but aversion among OB‐GYNs and NPs is significantly higher.

Conclusion

Together, these observations suggest that OB‐GYN and NP populations are important targets for education about obesity management. Very few PCPs, OB‐GYNs or NPs use behavioural counselling coding for obesity. Better understanding of why this benefit is not being fully used could inform outreach to improve counselling rates.

Comments

Reproduced with permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Obesity Science and Practice

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

Peer Reviewed

1

Download

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.