The Group Medical Visits Program may be offered to adults who qualify.
Group Program: Get Well Not Hungry
Intended for people:
- who are dealing with metabolic syndrome, fatty liver, pre-diabetes, type 2 diabetes, and related medical issues
- and/or who qualify under MSP’s rules for medical guidance on health-focused weight management.
- and who would benefit by participating in a group with a focus on these concerns.
How To Start?
- Inquiry Phone Call – use the online booking to make an Inquiry Phone Call appointment for a time you choose (we always start with this step).
- Intake Appointment
- Your first small group meeting
⇒ Dr. Roberts will review your medical needs and consider if you might qualify for her Group Medical Visits Programs. The Inquiry Phone Call is to plan what comes next. Treatment advice will not be part of this visit.
⇒ If you are interested and if you qualify based on your medical needs, the next step is to check if you qualify based on Dr. Roberts’s criteria for participation. This involves two forms for you to review and to consider signing. These are the Confidentiality Agreement and Dr. Roberts’s Group Medical Visit Participant Agreement. Please read below regarding expectations.
⇒ Next will be a 15-20-minute Intake Appointment. Dr. Roberts will go over your medical history form with you and any lab reports or other documents. Please make full use of the medical history form.
Medically supervised health-focused weight management:
If you are looking for medical guidance regarding heath-focused weight management, would you qualify for Dr. Roberts’s group medical visits programs? Dr. Roberts would need to make that decision based on a number of factors, most importantly the criteria MSP has for what they consider medically necessary care.
MSP still makes use of “BMI” in their considerations. Their basic criteria are:
- if your BMI is between 27 and 30 AND you are dealing with one or more medical problems that they consider to be related to your weight
- or if your BMI is over 30.
This is a complex evaluation that considers much more than simply your body weight or BMI. Dr. Roberts would have to make an assessment. If you think you might qualify, book a time for a phone call to inquire. Dr. Roberts will be happy to consider and explain your options.
Dr. Roberts’s Group Medical Visits are intended for people:
• who are dealing with one or more long-term, ongoing medical conditions:
The purpose of the group medical visit program will be to provide you with information and support that will help you in your efforts to manage this particular medical condition and hopefully result in improvements in your state of health in terms of that medical condition. The group visits are not intended for general health purposes or for prevention of disease.
• who are able to attend the visits in person, are well enough to keep their attention up for the length of the visits (an hour and a half), and who can communicate in English fluently:
Unfortunately, Dr. Roberts is not able to provide this information in other languages herself. If you know an MD who might be interested in providing a similar service in another language in their own clinic, or is providing this, please let Dr. Roberts know. Please see Dr. Roberts’s website for links to health information in other languages and suited to various cultures.
• who have a strong desire to use their personal choices and actions to improve their quality of life and their health:
Participants who will most benefit are those willing to consider changes in their habits, food choices and daily routines, and who are willing to engage in problem-solving to consider how they might address any barriers that are keeping them from better health and better enjoyment of their life.
• who commit to participate in the group in a way that shows respect to the other members of the group and that invites equal participation by all members of the group (respecting that some participants may choose to talk less on some days than others).
• who commit to attending the program visits and to arrive on time
• who consent to Dr. Roberts being in communication with their family doctor or primary care physician:
And who consent to their family doctor providing Dr. Roberts with relevant information about their medical condition, their medical history, relevant lab test results, investigation reports and specialist consultation reports. There will often be a need for smart and careful de-prescribing. De-prescribing is planned and careful reduction in medication doses or discontinuing a medication that is no longer of over-all medical benefit). A referral from your doctor is not required.
• who agree to engage responsibly with Dr. Roberts regarding any lifestyle, dietary or other changes that might impact their health and their medical needs.
Particularly, there are lifestyle and, especially, dietary changes that may cause rapid decreases in the need for certain medications. With certain major dietary changes, medications that had been very important and medically needed may be suddenly not needed and not tolerated. Serious and permanent harm can result from taking doses of medications that are no longer appropriate for you.
• For all participants, any changes in lifestyle or food intake must be done in an agreed-upon, planned way.
In the visit sessions, many lifestyle and food pattern options will be presented and discussed. This is for information and is not intended to be acted upon until a specific plan is agreed upon for you individually. Food is Medicine. Take it seriously.
Most people who might benefit medically from a group medical visit program are not in such a program. In practical terms, it is very difficult for most family doctors to offer such programs. A particular barrier is having a space that suits group visit meetings. The group medical visit programs offered by Dr. Roberts are not intended for people who are able to see their own physician or clinic for group medical visits.
Core Health MD 