Anouncements

Weight loss 1 month after surgery predicts long-term success!

Recently I attended a lecture by Dr. Dana Portenier, a respected bariatric surgeon from Duke University. He spoke about a study published by their practice showing that a patients success after weight loss surgery can be predicted as early as at the 1 month post-op visit.

In the graphs below, you can see that for a patient with a BMI under 50, if they have lost 6% of their excess body weight at the 1 month visit, they will be in the bottom 5th percentile at 36 months. A patient who has lost 26% of excess body weight, on the other hand, will be in the 95th percentile!

Weight Loss At First Post-operative Visit Predicts Long-Term Outcome Of Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass Using Duke Weight Loss Surgery Chart

Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases 8 (2012) 556-550

This is something that I’ve always suspected but have never seen presented in such an elegant fashion. You might ask, what is percent excess body weight loss? In order to know this, you must first know what your excess body weight is. This is simple: your excess body weight is your current weight minus your ideal body weight. You can look up your ideal body weight multiple ways, such as here.

So let’s say you weigh 250 lbs and your ideal body weight is 150 lbs. This makes it easy, as your excess body weight is 100 lbs! If you lose 50 lbs then you have lost half (or 50%) of your excess body weight. Surgeons will often abbreviate as 50% EWL or 50% EBWL.

Here is an excellent article that will help you figure out what your excess body weight loss is, and you can refer to the graph above to see where you fall on the curve.

One of our goals at JourneyLite Physicians is to provide the best outcomes for our patients, and given this data we have opted to change our post-op follow-up protocol to require:

monthly visits for the first year after surgery
visits every 3 months during the second year
visits every 6 months starting in the third year and beyond

We feel that more closely-spaced appointments will help patients stay on track better and give them every opportunity to succeed!

Click here to request a follow-up appointment.

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We Take Great Care Of Our Patients-Q4 Patient Satisfaction Surveys

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Our patients rate us highly!

Sometimes when you see a bunch of 5 star reviews you think to yourself “are these real or fake?” Chances are, if there are only 5 star reviews and no 1 star reviews they probably are! At JourneyLite, we pride ourselves in our top-notch patient care and regularly receive glowing, old-fashioned hand-written patient satisfaction surveys from our patients. We have de-identified these and posted our Q4 2019 surveys just to show how our patients feel about our experienced and caring team.

Q4 Patient Satisfaction Surveys

Great news from CareSource: coverage for diabetics with BMI 30-35

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JourneyLite Surgery Center: Now An Optum Center of Excellence!

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An Optum Center of Excellence

JourneyLite Surgery Center in Cincinnati, Ohio is proud to be one of the first ambulatory surgery centers in the country to be accepted into United Healthcare’s Optum Bariatric Resource Services Center of Excellence! Data shows that Optum Centers of Excellence (COE) have a 19% lower mortality rate than non-COE providers, a 30% lower hospital re-admission rate, and a 20-30% lower cost than non-COE providers. Since its founding in 2007, JourneyLite has been focused on providing the highest-quality, state-of-the-art care for weight loss patients, including surgical AND non-surgical options. With procedure offerings from the powerful SIPS procedure to the non-surgical gastric balloon, JourneyLite has a weight loss option in Cincinnati to fit your needs. In addition, JourneyLite Physicians offers satellite care in Columbus, Dayton, and Northern Kentucky.

Becoming a Center of Excellence can be a complex process. Usually there is a high volume requirement as it has long been known that centers performing many of a few procedures have lower complication rates than those doing few of many different procedures. Secondly, a multi-disciplinary team must be in place to ensure that all the needs of the patient can be met both before and after surgery. Thirdly, there is a verification process in place where a third party reviews the information, and even sometimes travels to the facility for a site review.

JourneyLite of Cincinnati has achieved many Center of Excellence milestones!

first outpatient surgery center to be reviewed and accredited as an SRC Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellent in 2010
first outpatient surgery center to be reviewed and accredited as an MBSAQIP Comprehensive Center in 2016
One of the first outpatient surgery centers to be reviewed and accredited as an MBSAQIP Outpatient Center in 2017
One of the first outpatient surgery centers to receive Anthem Blue Distinction Plus certification in 2015
One of the first outpatient surgery centers to receive UHC Optum Center of Excellence accreditation

Whether its JourneyLite Physicians or JourneyLite Surgery Center, we will never cease our quest for continually improving patient outcomes while providing affordable access to care!

Saxenda: A New Injectable Weight Loss Medication

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Saxenda: A New Injectable Weight Loss Drug

Other Weight Loss Medications

Saxenda (generic: liraglutide) is derived from the diabetes medication Victoza. Researchers found that patients who were on Victoza frequently lost a small amount of weight. Eventually, studies were done utilizing Victoza at double the regular dose and its effect on weight loss, and results revealed that patients who were taking Saxenda lost more weight than those on a placebo, and the results were statistically significant. This led to FDA approval of a 3mg dose of Victoza for weight loss, but under the name Saxenda.

Saxenda is injected from a pre-filled pen with a dial to adjust the dosage, similar to many diabetes medications. The dosage is increased gradually over several days until 3mg is reached. Generally the medication is well-tolerated, with the most common side effects being nausea and diarrhea. Patients on Saxenda will be required to have monthly office visits to meet with a medical provider and a registered dietitian.

Saxenda works by interacting with GLP-1 receptors in your body. GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide) is an appetite hormone that is naturally produced in humans that helps to regulate hunger. Saxenda works like GLP-1 by regulating your appetite, which leads to decrease calorie consumption and therefore weight loss.

Saxenda, being a new medication, can cost upwards of $1000/month for patients without insurance coverage, so it is important to explore your options. Patients are advised to call the Saxenda coverage hotline at 888-809-3942 to find out about coverage prior to requesting an appointment.

It is always exciting to see new treatment options for weight loss coming to fruition, and JourneyLite Physicians is proud to be on the forefront of fighting the disease of obesity!