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Only 20 of 112 medical schools recently polled, offered a nutrition class; none offered a bariatric course.
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There is no mechanism in place to train primary care physicians in the process of medically managing obesity.
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Less than half of obese adults report being advised to lose weight by health care professionals
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Healthcare professionals perceive obesity negatively and unsympathetically, considering its treatment as a trivial challenge.
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Any treatment of obesity involves obligatory, continuing management. This is a model that does not work well in a traditional medical format, which is more likely to be organized and financed for acute or episodic care.
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Health insurance and managed care do not pay or provide for the treatment of obesity
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Physicians have a misunderstanding of regulatory agencies rules and regulations regarding the treatment of obesity which leads to unwarranted fears and concerns over the use of medications and supplements for weight loss.
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Physicians are apprehensive of developing a fee-for-service weight management medical program.
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Doctors in mature managed care markets are feeling the heat from reduced reimbursements that are squeezing them financially and forcing them to seek other ways to pay their mortgages. Higher overhead, rising paperwork and intrusions on professional autonomy are forcing physicians to find ways to flourish financially and increase their independence. Moneymaking activities that allow them to be entrepreneurial are often essential to send children to college and prepare for retirement. It is getting harder to find a physician who is not supplementing his or her income beyond seeing office patients. YOUNG PHYSICIANS DECEMBER 1998
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One tactic doctors are using is to branch out into medical-related buiness where they can earn a steady income, deal with less paperwork, and work predictable hours. PHYSICIAN'S MONEY DIGEST NOVEMBER 2001
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More physicians than ever are looking for revenue beyond the traditional realm of clinical practice. The most successful ideas address the needs of a doctor's current patient base. Profits are possible even if doctors hire nutritionists, and other alternative practitioners to do much of the work. MEDICAL ECONOMICS JANUARY 2001
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