Mark Key, MD, is a board-certified family medicine physician with a comprehensive approach to health that spans full-scope primary care, longevity medicine, and the specialized needs of high-performance athletes
Nathanson D, Ullman B, Lofstrom U, Hedman A, Frick M, Sjoholm A, Nystrom T: Effects of intravenous exenatide in type 2 diabetic patients with congestive heart failure: a double-blind, randomised controlled clinical trial of efficacy and safety
To get prior authorization when Medicaid covers weight loss shots in your state, you typically need to document the patient's BMI (30 or greater, or 27 or greater with comorbidities), evidence of failed lifestyle modifications over 3 to 6 months, and sometimes evidence of failed alternative medications
Once these assessments are completed and the healthcare provider determines that Ozempic is an appropriate treatment option, the provider will prescribe the medication and develop a personalized treatment plan
However, due to the lower sample sizes, these impressive effects are likely to become more tempered as clinical trials progress
The Spanish Ketogenic Mediterranean Diet study showed 14.47 kilograms of loss in 12 weeks, which is significant but generally less than what GLP-1 medications produce over similar timeframes in clinical trials