OMA and ACOFP issue joint primary care roadmap for obesity treatment

The Obesity Medicine Association (OMA) and the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians (ACOFP) published a joint clinical perspective on March 17, 2025, describing how family physicians should diagnose and treat obesity and naming the barriers that keep primary care practices from starting patients on anti-obesity medications ^[1].

The document appeared in Obesity Pillars, volume 14, article 100172 ^[1]. Its authors describe it as based on scientific evidence, the clinical experience of the authors, and peer review by OMA and ACOFP leadership ^[1].

The perspective organizes obesity treatment around four pillars: nutrition therapy, physical activity, behavior modification, and medical interventions, which it defines as anti-obesity medications and bariatric surgery ^[1]. It states that family physicians are often the first line of treatment in health care, giving them early opportunities to prevent or treat overweight and obesity, and that patient care improves when primary care clinicians understand the risks and benefits of anti-obesity medications and bariatric procedures along with long-term follow-up ^[1].

Much of the document focuses on what gets in the way. It lists these barriers to optimal obesity care in primary care: failure to recognize obesity as a disease, lack of accurate diagnosis, insufficient access to obesity treatment resources, inadequate training, insufficient time, lack of adequate reimbursement, and the adverse impact of bias, stigma and discrimination ^[1]. It adds that obesity is a disease contributing to both biomechanical complications and the most common cardiometabolic abnormalities encountered in primary care ^[1].

The perspective cites the OMA definition of obesity as a "Serious, chronic, progressive, relapsing, and treatable multi-factorial, neurobehavioral disease, wherein an increase in adiposity promotes adipose tissue dysfunction and abnormal fat mass physical forces, resulting in adverse metabolic, biomechanical, and psychosocial health consequences" ^[1]. It describes the endocrinopathies and biomechanical dysfunction of increased adiposity as among the most clinically relevant modifiable causes of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular disease, thrombosis and cancer ^[1].

On the organizations behind it, the document says the OMA had more than 5,000 members at the time of print and that the ACOFP represents more than 26,000 practicing osteopathic family physicians, residents, students and allied health professionals ^[1]. The manuscript was received January 26, 2025, revised March 9, 2025, and accepted March 10, 2025 ^[1].

The perspective refers to anti-obesity medications as a class and does not name individual products in the sections reviewed ^[1]. It also does not set out an implementation timeline, a released training program, or a date for follow-up guidance; none of those has been disclosed ^[1].

Why it matters for patients

Most people who take a GLP-1 medication for weight still see a primary care clinician for the prescription, the refills and the check-ins. This document is written for that clinician, and it describes what the authors think a good obesity visit should include: nutrition, activity, behavior change, and medication or surgery where appropriate ^[1].

The barrier list is also a preview of where care can stall in practice. A short visit, a practice that does not bill well for obesity care, a clinician who does not treat obesity as a disease, or stigma in the room can all affect whether a conversation about medication happens at all ^[1]. Those are described as system-level problems, not patient failures.

It is worth being clear about what this document is. It is a clinical perspective and expert review from two professional societies, not a clinical trial, a regulatory decision, or an insurance rule ^[1]. It does not change what any drug is approved for, what it costs, or whether a plan covers it. While the authors identify lack of adequate reimbursement as a barrier, the text reviewed does not propose a specific payment policy or say how coverage should change ^[1].

Patient-facing tools, dosing guidance, and any follow-on materials from either organization have not been reported ^[1].

What happens next

No next steps with dates have been announced. The document was accepted for publication on March 10, 2025, and appeared in the June 2025 collection of Obesity Pillars ^[1]. Whether the OMA and ACOFP will issue additional training materials, updated guidance, or advocacy positions on reimbursement has not been reported ^[1].