Veterans VA patient requirements for GB

So here is what I have found so far for the requirements. So I have found 2 different booklets by the VA for this and they are both 42 to 45 pages long.  

Veterans VA patient requirements 

1. Weight/BMI (Body Mass Index) Criteria

BMI > 40 but < 60; or

BMI 35 to 39.9 with an obesity related co-morbidity

(Diabetes Mellitus – type 2, Hypertension or High Blood

Pressure, Sleep Apnea, Coronary artery disease,

Hyperlipidemia or High Cholesterol, Osteoarthritis)

2. Medical Weight Management (minimum 12 weeks) - you must complete and demonstrate compliance in the MOVE program. The MOVE program provides a multi-disciplinary approach to weight management focusing on healthy life-style changes through diet, physical activity and behavior change. The MOVE program consists of 8 weekly sessions at the Jesse Brown VAMC or your local VAMC. You then graduate to monthly support group sessions.

You must attend regularly

You must participate in assignments

What does compliance mean? Accepting personal responsibility for lifestyle changes and maintaining those changes. How will this be measured?

Demonstration of reasonable weight loss of 0.5 – 1 pound per week throughout MOVE program towards preparation for surgery.

Maintenance of weight loss and avoidance of weight re-gain while preparing for surgery.

For those who have inability to lose weight, the bariatric team will consider candidates who maintain their weight by maintaining healthy lifestyle habits.

3. Bariatric Psychological Consultation - The evaluation will identify whether there is evidence of any barriers that may interfere with your safety and with adjustment to the surgical procedure.

Based on identification of risk factors, recommendations will be made to you and the Bariatric Team that are aimed at facilitating the best possible outcomes. This may include counseling.

4. Dietitian Evaluation and Education – The purpose is to evaluate your weight loss history and eating behavior. The bariatric dietitian specialist will teach the principles of nutrition after bariatric surgery. During this nutrition counseling session, you will learn about the post-op dietary progression, protein and fluid requirements, and lifelong vitamin and mineral supplementation.

　

The specialist then makes recommendations regarding how you can change your eating behavior and food selection practices to adjust to the post-op diet.

5. Medical Tests/Consultations – based on medical history some of the following tests may be required.

Sleep Study

Pulmonary Function Test

Cardiac Stress Test

Laboratory blood tests

Non-Candidates:

Age > 65

Current tobacco smokers or chew users

Oxygen Dependent COPD or other lung disease

Patients with Cirrhosis or active Hepatitis B

Patient with significant heart failure or pulmonary hypertension

Patients with major psychoses or issues with non-compliance with medications and treatment plans.

Patients who were active substance abusers within a period of 1 year prior to referral.

Anticipated Costs:

You will be responsible for copays for inpatient and outpatient services. To determine your level of copays for services, please visit the Blue Desk in the admitting department.

 

I didn't go through the VA, but that's pretty much everything I had to do.  My insurance required the operation be performed at a Center of Excellence and I had to have a 6 month supervised diet program.  My surgeon's program required the following:

• Attend 2 orientations
• Surgical consultation
• Sleep test
• Full blood panel
• EKG
• Psychological Evaluation
• Lose 15 lbs

I don't smoke or drink, but those would have had to have stopped as well.  I also needed to get off caffeine.  It's a lot to do, but it's worth it.  :D

Jen

Yes I believe it will take 6 to 8 months.   

Compliance means you do the things they say you must do.  As you posted, it means you must attend regularly and you must participate in assignments.  I assume that attending regularly means not missing any sessions or, if you must miss a session, you have a very good reason (like you must attend a funeral and have documentation of that).  I would assume that missing too many sessions might require starting over, even if you do have good reasons.  I'm not sure exactly what participating in assignments means or what the assignments might be.  I guess it mean, for example, if you are asked to keep a good log, that you keep a food log and turn it in when requested.

The requirements are what most of us had to do.  Other than being overweight, I realized that my body and mind were healthy.  It was more testing than I had ever done in my life. 

 MOVE is an excellent program.  You will need to show regular weight loss during MOVE.  Many insurances require a similar program of learning about food and following a healthy diet. 

A couple of suggestions to make things easier for you.  Go to http://myfitnesspal.com and create an account.  Start tracking all of your food and exercise.  This will give you a head start on what you need to do for MOVE and for what will make things easier after your surgery.  My Fitness Pal will give you reports that analyze the fat, carbs, calories, different vitamins and minerals in your food.  If you use a smartphone to track, it is really easy.

Go to a sporting store and buy a fitness tracker that you can sync with My Fitness Pal.  Also look into a scale that works with the fitness tracker.  You don't have to do those things but it will make things much easier.  The VA will give you a paper calorie counter, a pedometer and tape measure.  The fitness tracker is like the difference between driving a Lamborghini or traveling on a pair of roller skates.  Both will get you there but having the luxury tool will be a big advantage.

Coming to this site is a wonderful first step.  You can learn much from the weight loss surgery veterans here.  Post often and ask questions. 

Thank you all for the advise. It has been good to see that there is people out there that are having the same issues I am having. I still have so many question for the doctor and others involved in this. I have so any question that I am drawing a blank now while type this. One of the problems that I having is when will I start. I have a appointment on Nov 21 2014 at 0930 hrs to start the MOVE program but when the doctor called me he stated that he was going to present my case to the bariatric group for review in Oct 2014 but that he had something about it in Sept 2014 but I am not sure what that is. I have called him and left a message for him to call me back but no reply yet, granted it has only been a few days. 

One thing that I have to learn other than a new life change is that I have to be patient with this, that it will not happen over night that it is going to take months just to get started, which may be fine with me due to the fact that I think that I am at the top of the max BMI of 60% and may need to loose weight to decrease my BMI.