Required Waiting Periods for Bariatric Surgery Offer No Additional Benefits

Tuesday, 21 February 2012 17:04

A study conducted by researchers at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, NC, revealed that mandatory waiting periods before bariatric surgery provide no significant difference for the patient. Results of the study were presented at the 27th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS).

Waiting periods, or mandated medical programs, are often required by insurance companies. Patients in mandated medical programs (MMPs) receive nutritional and psychological counseling for up to six months to prepare them for the physical and emotional challenges of surgery. They are also required to be under a doctor's care for six months prior to surgery.

Given the high cost of surgery, insurance companies are justified in making every effort to ensure that patients are prepared for medical treatment and equipped to handle the demands and restrictions that medical weight loss brings, notes Weight Loss Surgery Channel. But Dr. Timothy Kuwada, the lead author of the study, believes that the six-month waiting period is an arbitrary time frame and may unnecessarily delay surgery, which could do more harm than good for patients with obesity-related health problems.

The study examined 440 patients who underwent bariatric surgery between 2006 and 2010. Of the patients, 116 were required to undergo a six-month mandated medical program. Dr. Kuwada reported that all patients received pre-surgical nutritional and psychological counseling, but two months of preparation was considered sufficient for patients who were not required to participate in an MMP. All patients were placed on a low-calorie liquid diet for two weeks before surgery.

In the MMP group, patients lost an average of only two pounds more than the non-MMP group prior to surgery. Researchers looked at average weight loss one year after surgery and found that patients in the MMP group had lost 63 percent of their excess weight, while non-MMP patients lost 64 percent of their excess weight.

Dr. Kuwada stated that he hopes the findings will encourage insurance carriers to re-examine their policies, and allow patients to undergo surgery when they are deemed physically and emotionally prepared, as opposed to enforcing an arbitrary time frame.