Pediatric Obesity Interventions: Billing for Providers

About This Blog

In working with an obese adult population for over 7 years, I observed that very few health care providers feel comfortable discussing a patient’s weight status. Some providers I’ve observed, tell patients to “lose weight” as they are exiting the exam room. Health care providers are in a unique position to counsel and guide patients in their weight loss journey, especially pediatric patients and their families. Families look to primary care providers for direction about weight management.

Under the new Affordable Health Care Act, counseling for obesity prevention and treatment is covered at 100% as a preventative service.

I created these modules as a resource for providers to use in their office in the prevention, management, and counseling of overweight and obese pediatric patients. Each module contains a guide for the provider, educational handouts for the patient, and scholarly articles that help the provider navigate the educational process.

These modules are in no way comprehensive of the information available about pediatric obesity, but they offer providers a place to start in combating the national epidemic of childhood obesity.

One of the most important components to implementing any program into practice is reimbursement. Even though it may be of benefit to the patient, providers can't spend valuable time counseling patients, only to have these services denied by insurance companies. Under the Affordable Health Care Act of 2010, insurances are required to cover obesity prevention and treatment as a preventative service, which generally means no out of pocket expense to the patient. This overcomes barriers for provider reimbursement and patient payment.