Obesity Treatment Pathways and Implementation in Health Systems.
Chao AM, Walsh S, Rama PR, Samuels JM
A narrative review found little publicly available guidance on implementing obesity treatment pathways within health systems, identifying gaps in translating clinical guidelines into operational care processes. Narrative review examining screening, diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring elements across primary and specialty care settings. This highlights a critical implementation barrier as health systems struggle to operationalize obesity care despite established clinical guidelines and expanding treatment options. The review provides practical frameworks for pathway development but underscores the absence of standardized implementation resources.
Strategic Signal
Health systems lack structured pathways to operationalize obesity care despite guideline availability, creating barriers to treatment access that could limit uptake of new obesity medications like Wegovy and Zepbound. US health systems particularly struggle with care coordination between primary care and specialty providers, potentially fragmenting patient journeys from screening to advanced therapies. This implementation gap may favor integrated health systems with established obesity programs over fragmented fee-for-service models, influencing market access strategies for obesity drug launches.