Access to Care Committee

Committee Mission

The mission of the Access to Care Committee is to advance legislative and policy efforts for equitable access to high-quality obesity treatment.

An Interview With The Chair

What about this committee’s mission is the most important to you? 

“Access to Care is a very large committee with members from all 50 states.  In addition to all of our STARs, SuperSTARs, and state chapter presidents we also have members with a passion for access to obesity treatment and many ad hoc members from our partners in industry.  Every single month this large group with diverse viewpoints meets and makes a difference in the lives of our patients.  Changing policy and expanding care does not happen overnight.  It takes GRIT, determination, and countless hours of effort, but when we do succeed the impact on patient care is huge. 

Lastly I think one of the committee’s largest successes has been getting numerous insurers to adopt the new ASMSS/IFSO 2022 guidelines.  We have seen expansion of obesity treatment and better access to millions of patients over the past two years.  We continue to push for universal adoption of the 2022 guidelines from all commercial payers.  We have contacted the medical directors from every single major commercial policy as well as had additional conversations with the payers whose policies seem most restrictive.  To date, more than 123 million lives are covered under our new guidelines.  We also are advocating for coverage of newly endorsed procedures like SADI; to date 48.7 million lives are being covered for SADI.  We know that the work is never done and new barriers to access arise every day.  One of our top agenda items this year is addressing the ever increasing problem of inpatient denials.  We have hear the requests from the membership and are making this a top priority. “ 

How has being part of this committee benefitted you professionally or even personally?

“While I may never operate on a million patients, I can affect that many by helping them secure access to obesity treatment.  It is an incredibly rewarding committee where the work we do nationally often trickles down to your own clinic and community.” 

What of this committee’s accomplishments are you most proud of? 

“We have recently overhauled our entire ATC Toolkit online, and it is packed with resources for surgeons, IH members and even patients.  This toolkit also now includes two new dashboards which we believe will help make understanding policies from major commercial payers easy for surgeons and IH members.  I will be doing a live demo of both dashboards and giving a tutorial on how to use them in practice and for access/advocating purposes at the ASMBS Weekend meeting- don’t miss out! Come to the ATC session to see the new dashboards in action and join us as we discuss obesity bias, recent policy changes, TREO’s role in expanding access, and more.“

Final Thoughts on the Access to Care Committee?

“If you are passionate about equity, access to care, and breaking down barriers, join the ATC!”