From the HHS News Release:

Medicare is adding coverage for preventive services to reduce obesity.   This adds to Medicare’s existing portfolio of preventive services that are now available without cost sharing under the Affordable Care Act.  It complements the Million Hearts initiative led jointly by CMS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in partnership with other HHS agencies, communities, health systems, nonprofit organizations, and private sector partners across the country to prevent one million heart attacks and strokes in the next 5 years.

Over 30% of both men and women in the Medicare population are estimated to be obese. Obesity is directly or indirectly associated with many chronic diseases, including those that disproportionately affect racial and ethnic minorities such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Addressing the prevention of obesity related disparities has the potential to reduce obesity prevalence while also closing the gap on health disparities among Medicare beneficiaries.

Screening for obesity and counseling for eligible beneficiaries by primary care providers in settings such as physicians’ offices are covered under this new benefit. For a beneficiary who screens positive for obesity with a body mass index (BMI) greater than or equal to 30 kg/m2, the benefit would include one face-to-face counseling visit each week for one month and one face-to-face counseling visit every other week for an additional five months. The beneficiary may receive one face-to-face counseling visit every month for an additional six months (for a total of 12 months of counseling) if he or she has achieved a weight reduction of at least 6.6 pounds (or 3 kilograms) during the first six months of counseling.

Through the end of October, 22.6 million people with Original Medicare have received one or more of the free covered preventive services this year.

To read the final decision on the new national coverage determination, visit the CMS website at: http://www.cms.gov/medicare-coverage-database/details/nca-decision-memo.aspx?&NcaName=Intensive%20Behavioral%20Therapy%20for%20Obesity&bc=ACAAAAAAIAAA&NCAId=253&

For more information about Million Hearts, please visit millionhearts.hhs.gov.

View the HHS Press Release here.