STOP Obesity Alliance: Proposed Standard of Care

The STOP Obesity Alliance have produced a standard of care for the treatment of adult obesity, published in the journal Obesity

During 2018, the STOP Obesity Alliance convened a series of roundtable meetings with relevant stakeholders to deliberate who should provide obesity care, where care should be delivered and what care should be provided by whom. The goal was to develop a standard of care that enables the patient to move within the continuum of care, and to provide assurance that patients have access to appropriate levels of care, regardless of where they enter the health care system.

The product of meetings was a practical, tangible, measurable and simple standard of care for the treatment of adult obesity, published in the journal Obesity. The recommendations are intended to provide health professionals, payers, community organizations, policymakers and patients with guidance on foundational components of evidence-based obesity care. In addition, the standards include a proposed algorithm for how health plans could assess their success in obesity management. Through research connected to this work, it was found that insurance coverage for obesity care varies greatly across insurance plans. The STOP Obesity Alliance will draft and seek input from experts on what constitutes an ideal obesity care benefit based on the proposed standard of care.