Original articlePre–Lap-Band group education in Medicaid population: does it really make a difference?
Section snippets
Methods
All patients undergoing LAGB at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center (Chicago, IL) from April 2006 to December 2007 were enrolled and encouraged to attend a comprehensive, multidisciplinary bariatric management program. The patients were instructed that they would be declined surgery if they did not attend the SMPP classes; however, no patient was declined surgery if they were medically fit for the procedure. The patients who were candidates for Lap-Band surgery were recruited after informed
Results
The study enrolled 276 patients who had undergone LAGB at our institution. The average preoperative weight for all subjects was 132 ± 23 kg. The average BMI was 48 ± 7 kg/m2, and the mean EBW was 74 ± 20 kg. The postoperative follow-up rate was 94.5% at 1 month, 72.3% at 6 months, and 52.7% at 12 months. The cohort demographics are listed in Table 2.
The patients were divided into 2 groups according to their participation in the SMPP program, with 222 in the SMPP-compliant group and 54 in the
Discussion
Our data have demonstrated that SMPP-compliant Medicaid patients undergoing LAGB surgery will have greater short-term EWL (≤12 months) than non-SMPP patients. The pattern of EWL achieved by our SMPP compliant group was similar to what has been previously reported for the general population undergoing LAGB [11], [12].
Previously, Jamal et al. [7] found that patients undergoing mandatory preoperative dietary counseling had a signficantly lower %EWL (60% versus 67%; P <.001), a greater BMI (35 kg/m2
Conclusion
In this retrospective review, our Medicaid patients who successfully completed more than one half of the SMPP had significantly improved postoperative weight loss. These 12-month results are comparable to well-known international standards. We believe that these interventions should be routinely offered to Medicaid patients undergoing LAGB to optimize the outcomes.
Disclosures
The authors have no commercial associations that might be a conflict of interest in relation to this article.
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At the time of this research, all (with the exception of Dr. Torquati) were affiliated with Mercy Hospital and Medical Center in Chicago, IL.