Evaluation of Medicare's Intensive Behavioral Therapy for Obesity: the BieneStar Experience

In 2011, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services began to reimburse primary care providers for intensive behavior therapy for obesity. This study evaluated a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services intensive behavior therapy for obesity program as implemented in primary care clinics.

Data for this retrospective cohort study were obtained between May 2012 and February 2015 and statistical analysis was performed in 2017. The sample included 643 participants who attended at least one BieneStar intensive behavior therapy for obesity program session. The primary outcome was weight, and covariates were number of sessions, age, race/ethnicity, diagnosis of hypertension and diabetes, and type of health insurance.

Of 643 participants that initiated the BieneStar program, 641 had complete data. The median reduction in weight of participants was as follows: those who attended fewer than four sessions, 0 kg (95% CI=0, 0.11 kg); between four and eight sessions, 1.1 kg (95% CI=0.86, 1.59 kg); and more than eight sessions 3.7 kg (95% CI=3.36, 4.55 kg). Medians of weight were significantly different between each classification of session numbers (p<0.01). Participants lost on average 0.102 kg of weight per session attended.

The BieneStar program showed that the weight of participants decreased as they attended more sessions. Further studies are needed to determine if these results can be reproduced in other office-based primary care clinics and the program's impact on chronic disease.