NEHI and a team of collaborators recently issued a call to action in Health Affairs Forefront: “It’s Time to Plan for Value-based Delivery of Obesity Treatment and Support.”  Our call to action is based on a framework outlined in our March report, “Envisioning Value-based Provider Payment for Obesity Treatment and Support.”

Join us on June 8 for a webinar in which our panel of collaborators and guest experts will discuss how our health care system can meet the growing demand and unmet need for safe, effective treatment and care of obesity.

Our Panel:

• Angela Fitch, MD, President, Obesity Medicine Association; Co-founder and Chief Medical Officer, Knownwell Health
• Florencia Halperin, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Form Health
• Tracy Zvenyach, Ph.D., MS, RN, Director Policy Strategy & Alliances, Obesity Action Coalition
• Mark Japinga, Research Associate, Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy
  

Watch the Full Webinar:

Read more on this topic in Bloomberg: Pricey Weight-Loss Drugs Spur Employer Efforts to Control Costs

Read our corresponding report: Envisioning Value-based Provider Payment for Obesity Treatment and Support

Learn more about our panelists:

Angela Fitch, MD, FACP, FOMA is the current president of the Obesity Medicine Association.  She practiced primary care for 10 years before becoming a diplomate of the American Board of Obesity Medicine in 2012. She is currently the Chief Medical Officer and Co-Founder of Knownwell, a comprehensive longitudinal obesity treatment, and primary care clinic focused on delivering unbiased non-stigmatizing care for patients with obesity throughout the country.  She is a former Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard University, the former co-director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Weight Center, a current ex-officio board member of the Obesity Action Coalition, and a founding member of the Massachusetts Coalition for Action on Obesity. Dr. Fitch is board-certified in obesity medicine, internal medicine, and pediatrics.

Florencia Halperin, MD, is the Chief Medical Officer of FORM, the virtual medical weight loss clinic that provides personalized care from an expert doctor and Registered Dietitian, empowering patients to take control of their health. Dr. Halperin completed her undergraduate and medical school education at Harvard University. She later returned to Harvard Medical School for a Master of Medical Sciences. Dr. Halperin completed her internship and residency training in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH). She then completed a Clinical Fellowship in Endocrinology at BWH and went on to complete a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Joslin Diabetes Center. Dr. Halperin continued to practice medicine at BWH and was appointed the Medical Director of the Program for Weight Management in 2009. In 2019, Dr. Halperin joined FORM as Chief Medical Officer, where she oversees the entire clinical team and delivers high-quality personalized medical care to people living with obesity. Since she joined, she has defined and implemented the company’s clinical care model based on ABOM guidelines and built a team of world-class doctors, Advanced Practice Professionals, and Registered Dietitians. Dr. Halperin is board certified in endocrinology and a member of many professional associations including the American Medical Association, Endocrine Society, American Diabetes Association, and The Obesity Society. She is a recipient of numerous awards that highlight her dedication to patient care including the Castle Connolly America’s Top Doctors and the Schwartz Center Award for Compassionate Care.

Tracy Zvenyach, PhD, MS, RN is Director of Policy Strategy and Alliances at the Obesity Action Coalition. In this role, she provides leadership in the development and implementation of policy priorities and strategy for OAC and represents OAC in alliances and coalition efforts to advance obesity care. She also serves as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Georgetown University, where she teaches healthcare policy and advocacy to graduate-level students. In her previous roles, Dr. Zvenyach led obesity public policy and advocacy efforts for seven years at Novo Nordisk and worked in the U.S. Senate for years, on topics ranging from healthcare, women’s policy, workforce, disaster response, and judiciary policy. Two of her top legislative accomplishments include work on provisions included in the Affordable Care Act and the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. Dr. Zvenyach’s research and publications focus on health economics and policy research to address barriers to obesity care, as well as the diet quality of pregnant women receiving the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) supplemental food program. Dr. Zvenyach received a BS in nursing from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and her MS in nursing and PhD. in health policy from the University of Maryland-Baltimore. Dr. Zvenyach volunteers her time as Co-Chair of the Public Policy Council for the Wisconsin Nurses Association and President of the Board of Trustees of the Wisconsin Nurses Political Action Committee.

Mark Japinga is a Research Associate at the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy, based out of Washington, DC, and focusing on payment and delivery reform. He has led research initiatives and written issue briefs in areas such as specialty care models, multipayer initiatives, employer-sponsored health care, and state-level transformation.