VIDEO: Expert discusses collaboration between obesity medicine physicians, PCPs

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As an obesity medicine physician, I don’t do primary care. And some physicians do, some don’t. Personally, I don’t because obesity is such a specialized field and my preference is to really focus on obesity in a specialized way. So, I make sure that each of my patients has a primary care provider. We share our treatment plans with a patient’s PCP, and then we communicate with the PCP and other members of the patient’s care team as needed.

The issue with primary care doctors providing medical obesity treatment is that most of them don’t have the time or resources to provide all of the education and support necessary to set their patients up for success. But since there are only a few thousand obesity medicine providers in the entire country, it’s really imperative that PCPs are knowledgeable about evidence-based obesity treatment so that they can at least start the conversation, start the process. And then they can refer patients to providers like me when they’re out of their comfort zone. So, for example, patients with medical complexity patients who have tried and failed many treatment options.