Weight Loss Surgery: Preventing the Health Risks
If you have are working with patients who are struggling with their weight, they may ask you about bariatric surgery (weight loss surgery) and whether it really works. While some of these patients are watching their weight slowly creep higher and higher, many of them have been trying to maintain their weight, losing up to hundreds of pounds, only to gain the weight back time and time again. The question of whether bariatric surgery might be a solution continues to be a popular one.
Learn some of the facts to share with patients and some services that some of your patients might qualify for that could increase your revenue as a medical practice.
Diagnosis for Surgery at Present
The greatest progress in the care of the surgical patient has taken place since the beginning of the present century. An increasing knowledge of disease and disorder as a result of research has permitted the development of many diagnostic aids:
- Roentgenograms
- Laboratory procedures such as chemical, bacteriologic, and pathologic determinations
- Monitoring devices
- Computer aids
So, medical professionals are able to diagnose diseases and disorders with more exactness and certainty than was possible from the simple clinical examinations of previous days.
The Concept of Weight Loss Surgery
One of the most common reasons why people would like to lose weight is to improve their looks. However, this should not be the underlying motivation for undergoing bariatric surgery, which is held to be a “major surgery” by health experts.
Post-surgery patients tend to have:
- Increased length of life
- Fewer obesity-related conditions:
o Sleep apnea
o Hypertension
o Diabetes
o Metabolic syndrome
Maximize Opportunities for Your Practice
Since 64% of the population is overweight and 30.5% obese according to the American Obesity Association, your practice is guaranteed to serve patients seeking advice about how to approach their weight issues. Your medical staff should stay current on research done in this area so as to best be able to talk patients through the decision-making process regarding whether bariatric surgery is right for them.
Patients that decide they are serious about the operation and would like to know more should consult an experienced and knowledgeable bariatric surgeon or even just an expert family physician who knows the ins and outs of weight loss surgery.
In addition, the patient should also consult the other health experts such as the psychiatrist and dietician with regards to some psychological advice on long-term goals after the operation.
If your practice does not already have an in-house bariatric surgeon or psychiatrists and dieticians that are specially qualified to serve bariatric surgery patients, you might benefit from adding these professionals to your team. Consider the increase in revenue your facility could have by becoming well known in your area for your weight loss surgery services.
Success Rates
Generally, patients who have undergone weight loss surgery are said to be successful if they were able to lose 50% or more of their extra body weight and maintain that condition for the next five years or so. However, the results of the operation may still vary depending on the clinical information of the patient and the skills of the bariatric surgeon.
Normally, the patient will be able to lose at least 30% to a maximum of 50% during the first six months after surgery; and within the year after the operation, the patient has the potential of losing weight up to a maximum of 77%.
Best of all, people who were able to lose weight through surgical operations can actually maintain a continuous weight loss of up to 50% to 60% in the next 10 to 14 years after surgery.
Factors to Consider
As with the other weight loss management programs, there are many factors to consider before the patient should decide to undergo weight loss surgery.
Consequently, the actual weight that will be lost is reliant on the weight before surgery, surgical procedure, patient’s age, capability to exercise, total health condition of the patient, dogged determination to maintain the necessary follow-up nurture, and the enthusiasm to succeed with the help of their family, friends, and their colleagues.
For your patients who have put on extra pounds and want to avoid gaining more, the information you share about weight loss surgeries for better health may easily convince them that the surgery is the best way to go. But, in addition to being convinced, it is important to advise them that they must take action after the surgery in order to see the best long-term benefits of it.
Post-surgery, for maximum success, they will need to continue to exercise, eat right, take nutritional supplements, come faithfully to follow-up visits, have a good support system and keep working through potential emotional struggles that could have led to overeating in the past.
For many of your patients, losing weight is not just a question of deciding to be strong-willed and determined or upbeat and positive. It requires significant life change. For those that determine weight-loss surgery would be the best option, your practice should be prepared to answer their questions, have the right medical personnel on staff, and be ready to offer all the post-op follow-up necessary to keep these patients being successful.
Take the Next Step
Let UPS Healthcare help you ensure you are best able to meet these patient needs and that your practice offers the right services to provide the most profit you. If your facility is not already addressing this need that affects over half of the population, UPS Healthcare can work with you to maximize the benefits and services you offer by considering adding professionals to your team that could help you pull in the revenue that you deserve. We can even vet those professionals for you or work with your current team to get the credentials they need.