FAQs

  • Membership includes convenient access to Dr. Stacy Hom by email, secure text, phone and video messaging so you can quickly get answers and care when you need it. You will discuss the frequency of your follow up visits depending on your needs, with every 2 weeks being common in the first few months of treatment, and every 4-6 weeks for those in a maintenance phase.  

    In person members can come in for body composition scans on our InBody 380 machine every 2-4 weeks to track your progress.

  • Comprehensive care means we go beyond weight loss to address weight-adjacent topics and conditions that affect quality of life, risk for catastrophic health events, and your health span.

    • Sleep

    • Cholesterol

    • Insulin Resistance

    • Diabetes Control

    • Mental Health

    • Self-Esteem

    • Heart Disease Prevention

    • Cancer Risk Reduction

    • Digestive Health

    • Hormone Regulation / Menopause / Abnormal Periods / PCOS

    • Erectile Dysfunction / Male Hypogonadism / Low Testosterone

    • Joint Pain and Mobility

    • Asthma and Pulmonary Hypertension

    • Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD/NAFLD)

    • Sexual Health

    • Memory Loss Prevention

    • Mental Focus

    • Reducting Environmental Exposures to Microplastics, Obesogens, and Endocrine Disruptors

  • We charge a set monthly fee for individuals and do not accept commercial insurance, Medicaid or Medicare for our visits. If you have Medicare, we will have you sign a form so that you can still obtain services with us. We can generate a superbill to submit to your insurance for HSA/FSA reimbursement.

    Insurance is still used for prescription medication coverage and we work to obtain prior authorization and file the necessary documentation for supporting coverage. Every plan varies widely on which weight loss medications, if any, they cover. For any studies such as sleep studies, imaging or outside specialists, we can refer you to providers within your insurance network.

  • For most patients, we consider the Body Mass Index (BMI) in combination with their medical history to determine who is a good candidate for anti-obesity medications. While BMI is an imperfect tool that does not reflect someone’s body composition and risk for metabolic disease, it is still a marker used in research, population studies and by insurance companies to determine who qualifies for medication coverage.

    Certain conditions such as insulin resistance, pre-diabetes, diabetes mellitus, obstructive sleep apnea lend themselves to early treatment of excess weight. The typical cut off based on BMI would be either a BMI >=30, or BMI >=27 with comorbid conditions. We also consider someone’s percent body fat measured by bioelectrical impedance analysis or waist circumference for treatment with medications. (A Percent Body Fat cut off in Male: >25% and Female: >32%, or Waist circumference in males >40 in and females >35 in) To find out what your BMI is, you can use the form to calculate it using your height and weight.

    * Individuals of Asian descent have a lower BMI cut off for diagnosing overweight and obesity, although it may not be recognized by insurance for drug coverage purposes.

  • FDA-approved prescription medications are carefully chosen based on your personal medical history by Dr. Hom, an experienced family medicine physician who is also certified in the specialty of Obesity Medicine. We closely monitor patient progress and watch for any side effects. We also monitor any coexisting conditions and collaborate with your primary health care team. We do not prescribe compounded weight loss medications or injectable vitamins at this practice.

    • GLP-1 Receptor Agonists: Semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy), Tirzepatide (Mounjaro, Zepbound), Liraglutide (Victoza, Saxenda)

    • Other Medications: Phentermine, Topiramate, Metformin, Naltrexone/Bupropion (Contrave), Phentermine/Topiramate (Qsymia)

  • We consider obesity to be a chronic medical disease, just like high blood pressure and diabetes. As long as a medication is well tolerated, we treat patients with medications long term with the goal of maintaining a patient in a healthier weight range for the purpose of reducing your risk for cardiovascular diseases. We monitor your body’s lean muscle composition during your weight loss so we can make adjustments accordingly. Periodic DEXA scans will also monitor your bone density in patients who have risk factors for osteoporosis, are older or postmenopausal.

  • Weight loss medications should not be taken if you are pregnant, thinking of becoming pregnant, or breastfeeding. We will discuss contraception methods prior to prescribing any anti-obesity medications if you are a woman of childbearing capacity. Medications such as semaglutide and tirzepatide should be stopped two months before planning a pregnancy.

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Myths about weight loss medications

“medications are the easy way out”

There’s nothing easy about obesity or its treatment. You still need to watch what you eat, be mindful of getting adequate sleep and physical activity and manage your stress levels while on medications. These medications can help cut down on food noise, cravings for food and alcohol, help you feel full and stay full longer and reduce your hunger. Some people may need more than one medication, and others may not have an adequate response to medications, and we will discuss if your condition warrants a referral for surgical intervention. On average, patients on semaglutide had about 15% weight loss and patients on tirzepatide had about 20% weight loss. Other medications have more modest average weight loss: phentermine (5-7%), Metformin (3-5%), Qsymia (5-11%), Contrave (5-7%), and Liraglutide (7-8%).

 These weight loss medications address biological drivers—like insulin resistance, hunger hormones, and appetite regulation—that willpower alone can't fix. They’re tools, not shortcuts. Obesity is a complex disease. As a disease, much like diabetes or hypertension, medications improve health outcomes more so than diet and exercise alone.

“They’re dangerous and we don’t know the long term side effects”

All medications carry risks, but the newer generation (like semaglutide, tirzepatide) has solid safety data and is FDA-approved. Side effects are typically mild and manageable when started and escalated appropriately by a trained clinician.

Some may believe weight loss medications are dangerous and this comes from misinformation in the media, historic problems with older weight loss medications, misuse, improper prescribing, and the unregulated proliferation of non-FDA approved compounded versions of these medications.

In fact, GLP-1 receptor agonists were first FDA approved in 2005 (Byetta/exenatide) to treat type II diabetes. Next in the 2010’s, liraglutide (Victoza) was introduced, and later Saxenda became the first GLP-1 medication approved for the treatment of obesity in 2014 with modest results.

In 2021, the game changer semaglutide came along when the FDA approved Wegovy for weight loss (Ozempic for type II diabetes) when it showed a 15% average body weight loss.

Finally in 2022, a dual GIP/GLP-1 receptor agonist, tirzepatide (Mounjaro/Zepbound) has taken weight loss to even higher levels (~20%+). Mounjaro was approved for diabetes in 2022, and Zepbound for obesity in 2023.