approach to things . It ’ s not like a oneservice shop kind of thing . Typically they ’ ll come and be evaluated by Robin Goff , our nurse practitioner .
“ Based off of the patient ’ s needs , Goff will do a nutrition evaluation and decide what are the good pills or shots that they can provide to them based off of their insurance and what would be compatible with their medical history ,” Eid explained . “ Then they follow through with him ( Goff ). That ’ s if they ’ re just interested in medical weight loss or supervised medical weight loss .”
Goff explained the different types of medication available to their patients at the Lake Cumberland Weight Loss Center ,
“ There ’ s several different medicines that we have to choose from , but I guess our biggest obstacle to medicine is insurance ,” Goff warned . “ It is kind of difficult sometimes to get insurance to pay for weight loss medicine . Some of the weight loss medicines are more than a thousand dollars a month , so that ’ s a big obstacle . It ’ s a little bit easier to get patients on them if they ’ re a diabetic . We can get insurance to cover it a little bit better that way .
“ We have six different medicines altogether ,” Goff stated . “ Three of those are for short-term use . Then three of those are for more long-term use . You can even use those for weight maintenance to help maintain weight once you ’ ve lost it . Then we have other medicines that are not strictly weightloss medicine , that ’ s intended for other things , but also helps with weight loss that will also utilize .”
Eid stated that some patients may want something more aggressive , like surgical options . Anyone can make an appointment with the Lake Cumberland Weight Loss Center and they can figure out how to get a referral if they need to from their primary care physician . A new patient ’ s first interview typically is with the surgeon , as they ’ ve expressed interest in surgery .
On the Intake Day with the surgeon , they talk about what are the different operations that they offer . They also talk about the process based off their insurance , and they try to standardize everyone between three to six months of supervised medical weight loss .
They ’ ll meet Robin Goff throughout this time and do a nutritional evaluation , a psychological evaluation and some tests before surgery . After that they begin to pick whatever operation they ’ d like to have done .
May 2023 SEKY - Life in Southeast Kentucky • 27