Please note that the Access to Care Committee is not accepting new member applications at this time. Committee membership is currently by appointment only.
L. Renee Hilton-Rowe, MD FACS FASMBS
Chair
Philip Gachassin, MD MHCM FACS FASMBS
Co-Chair
Tanyaradzwa, MD FACS FASMBS
Co-Chair
Darren Tishler, MD FACS
Co-Chair
Joe Northup, MD FACS DABS-FPMBS FASMBS
Board of Directors Liaison
ASMBS Staff Liaison
Leslie Vinson
Members
Amir Aryaie, MD FACS FASMBS (Georgia)
Nicholas Brown, MD FASMBS (Kansas)
Judy Chen, MD FACS ABOM FASMBS (State Chapters Committee Chair, Washington)
Karan R. Chhabra, MD MSc (Massachusetts)
David L. Chengelis, MD (Michigan)
Michael Cook, MD FACS FASMBS (Insurance Committee Chair, Louisiana)
Tuesday Cook, MD FACS DABOM (Diversity & Inclusion Committee Liaison, Maryland)
Pamela Davis, RN BSN MBA CBN (Illinois)
Wayne English, MD FACS FASMBS, Senior Past Chair (Tennessee)
Neil Floch, MD FACS (Connecticut)
Maria Iliakova, MD (Insurance Committee Co-Chair, Iowa)
Linden Karas, MD FACS (Ohio)
John Kelly, MD FACS FASMBS (Massachusetts)
Colleen Kennedy, MD MBA FASMBS (Texas)
Shanu Kothari, MD FASMBS (South Carolina)
Teresa LaMasters, MD FACS FASMBS DABOM (Iowa)
Shauna Levy, MD MS FACS (Louisiana)
Jamie Loggins, MD FACS (North Carolina)
Saniea Majid, MD FACS ABOM FASMBS (New Jersey)
John Morton, MD MPH MHA FASMBS, Senior Past Chair (Connecticut)
Fady Moustarah, MD MPH FASMBS (Michigan)
Blake Movitz, MD FACS (Michigan)
Joseph Northup, MD FASMBS, Senior Past Chair (Illinois)
Carl Pesta, DO FASMBS (Michigan)
Joshua Pfeiffer, MD FACS FASMBS (Wisconsin)
Sarah Pergande, DO (Wisconsin)
Nancy Puzziferri, MD MS FACS DABOM (Oregon)
Shireesh Saraubh, MD FACS FASMBS (Washington)
John D. Scott, MD FACS DABOM FASMBS, Senior Past Chair (South Carolina)
Michael Seger, MD FASMBS, Immediate Past Chair (Texas)
Lloyd Stegemann, MD FASMBS (Texas)
Don Selzer, MD (Insurance Committee Co-Chair, Indiana)
Regional Super STARS and STARS (State Access to Care Representatives)
Super STAR Northeast Region — Matthew Hutter, MD MPH FASMBS
STARs
CT — Danielle Friedman, MD FACS; Gabrielle Berthiaume, DNP-C (IH)
MA — Sheila Partridge, MD FACS FASMBS
ME — Kirk Sahagian, DO FACS
NH — Robert Catania, MD FASMBS
NY — William O’Malley, MD
RI — Siva Vithiananthan, MD FASMBS
VT — Patrick Forgione, MD
All New New England — Melissa Page, MS RD CSOWM LDN (IH)
Super STAR Mid Atlantic Region — Guilherme Campos, MD FASMBS
STARs
DE — Rahul Singh, MD FACS FASMBS
MD — Curtis Frederick, MD
NJ — Michael Bilof, MD FASMBS
NC — Linda Youngwirth, MD
NC/SC — Jaime Bull, PA-C (IH)
SC — David Moffat, MD
PA — Maria Altieri, MD MS; Cynthia Hipszer, RN MSN CNML CBN (IH)
VA/WV — Joseph Greene, MD MBA FACS FASMBS (Virginia)
Super STAR Southeast Central Region — Brandon Williams, MD FASMBS
STARs
AL — Danuel Laan, MD FASMBS
FL — Joey Jarrard, MD; Carah Horn, MBA-HCA BSN RN FASMBS-IH CBN (IH)
GA — Aaron Bolduc, MD; Maia Routly, DNP MA RN CPN EBP-C (IH)
KY — Joshua Steiner, MD
KY/OH — Amy Laktash, APRN MSN NP-C (IH)
OH — John Zografakis, MD FASMBS
TN — Jessica Ardila-Gatas, MD
Super STAR Upper Midwest Region — Luke Funk, MD MPH FASMBS
STARs
IA — Matthew Christopherson, MD
IL — Juaquito Jorge, MD; Betsy Felde, MBA RDN LDN (IH)
IN — Ambar Banerjee, MD FASMBS; Sarah Muntel, RD (IH)
KS — Robert Aragon, MD
MI — Amy Somerset, MD & Michael Wood, MD; Colleen Buda, PA-C CSOWM (IH)
MN — James McGreevy, MD
MO — Christopher Eagon, MD FASMBS; Angela Britt, BC (IH)
NE — Ivy Haskins, MD FASMBS
WI — Luke Funk, MD MPH FASMBS & Brandon Grover, DO FASMBS
Super STAR Lower Midwest Region — Robert O. Carpenter, MD MPH FASMBS
STARs
AR — Magdy Giurgius, MD FACS; Christle Loudermilk, RN BSN CBN (IH)
CO — Matthew Metz, MD
LA — Vance Albaugh; Laura Boyer, FNP C CBN (IH)
MS — Jennifer O’Flarity, RN BSN
NM — Fermin Fontan, MD
OK — Zhamak Khorgami, MD; Kathi Ling, PT DPT WCC (IH)
TX — Tony Primomo, MD
Super STAR Northwest Region — Valerie Halpin, MD FASMBS
STARs
AK — Open
ID — Cory Richardson, MD FASMBS
MT — John Pender, MD
ND — Ellen Vogels, DO
OR — Derek Rogalsky, MD; Greg Showell, RN (IH)
SD — Kristin Turek, CNP (IH)
WA — Mohan Mallipeddi, MD
WY — Kevin Helling, MD
Super STAR Southwest Region — Ajay Upadhyay, MD FACS FRCS
STARs
AZ — Christine Lovato, MD FASMBS
CA — Ajay Upadhyay, MD FACS FRCS
HI — Steven Fowler, MD FASMBS
NV — Morgan Pomeranz, MD FACS FASMBS
UT — Eric Volckmann, MD FASMBS
Industry AD Hoc Appointed
Geri Cramer – Boston Scientific
Ann Roy – Boston Scientific
Kate Thomas – Eli Lilly
Ishita Doshi – Ethicon
Maria Thompson – Ethicon
Scott Wolven – Ethicon
Andrew Zebrak – Intuitive Surgical
Suzanne Baeke – Leavitt Risk
Santosh Agarwal – Medtronic
Gina Baldo – Medtronic
Susan Hupp – Medtronic
Jamie Glonek – Novo Nordisk
Maggie Irwin – Novo Nordisk
Ginger Papesh – Novo Nordisk
Chrystal Jones – Obesity Action Coalition Advocacy Manager
Joe Nadglowski – Obesity Action Coalition President
W. Scott Butsch, MD MSc – The Obesity Society
Jennifer Deperry – Pfizer
Chris Gallagher – Potomac Currents, Washington D.C. Advisor
Jeanine Sherman – ProCare Health
Paul Hickey – ReShape Lifesciences
Walter Lindstrom, JD – ReShape Lifesciences
Nina Crowley, PhD RD LD – SECA
Michelle Fox, RN BSN – Teleflex Incorporated
Mission
The Access to Care Committee has the principal mission to assist patients affected by metabolic disease and obesity in 1) obtaining appropriate, safe, and effective medical care, 2) to improve the care and treatment of people with obesity, and 3) to advocate for the health care policy that ensures patient access to high quality prevention and treatment of obesity.
Description
Committee activities include: developing the strategic vision and strategies to make improvement in access to care; advocating for legislative changes on the state and local level that will affect health care coverage; addressing the politics, policies and ethics of access issues on the local, state and national levels; and bringing together initiatives/partners to effectively address access issues.
Objectives
- Increase awareness of access issues and progress among public and members
- Identify reasonable targets for progress in short, mid, and long-term
2023-2024 Committee Goals
- Monitor insurance companies’ policy updates that impede or improve patients’ access to care with assistance of our industry partners; Press for inclusion of ASMBS endorsed procedures and removal of barriers per the ASMBS/IFSO 2022 Guidelines
- CMS IPO Proposal for 2024 included removing sleeve and bypass from the IPO
- Utilization Subcommittee and Media Relations Subcommittee, a targeted approach to reaching the patients who have coverage but do not utilize it
- Continued Legislative Efforts
- TROA
- EHBP
- OAC Collaboration
2023-2024 Completed Projects
- Successfully implemented change using the 2022 ASMBS/IFSO Guidelines on MBS in many insurance coverages and increased coverage for SADI-S
- Created a subcommittee focused on dissemination and promotion of ASMBS/IFSO 2022 Guidelines
- Letters/meetings with payors to push the new guidelines
- ATC Toolkit Updated
- Created a Work Group focusing on an AMA Resolution
- Organized a massive national response in less than 2 months to CMS’ proposal to remove sleeve and bypass from IPO list; they did not
- Kept members informed of updated insurance policies via the “Advocacy & Access to Care” section in the ASMBS Top 5 on the 5th monthly newsletter and frequent email communication to members and State Chapters
- The committee continues to support advocacy efforts in all 50 states to improve state health exchange coverage, state employee coverage, Medicaid coverage in all 50 states and the passage of the Treat and Reduce Obesity Act (TROA)
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