Metabolic syndrome: a new multidisciplinary service line

That obesity in the USA has reached epidemic proportions is undeniable: one in three American adults is obese. High levels of obesity yield adverse microeconomic and macroeconomic effects, but assessing the viability of bariatric surgery in this respect requires careful consideration of its efficacy, its economic costs, and the benefits of the surgery. Metabolic syndrome is a microcosm of multiple disease states; the diseases that fall under the umbrella of the metabolic syndrome are, like obesity, becoming more prevalent. Epidemic obesity in part reflects inadequate utilization of bariatric surgery and inadequate coordination of efforts by the healthcare system. An integrated delivery network (IDN) is the best current model to achieve healthcare goals for patient subsets that are deemed important. Our overweight population, both with and without the metabolic syndrome, constitutes such a group because of the fraction of the general population they compose, the inherent costs to the healthcare system that their comorbid conditions generate, and the lost productivity to our economy that the treatment of these conditions entail. In this paper, we show a metabolic syndrome service line that will benefit both the individual hospital and the healthcare system. Pathways accepted for bariatric practices can be used, with modification, for the creation of a metabolic syndrome IDN. Implementation of such a system would benefit patients, caregivers, and society.