Bariatric surgery: Shedding the monetary weight of prescription costs in the managed care arena

Background: Prescription costs for treatment of co-morbidities associated with morbid obesity is a considerable annual health-care expenditure. This study addressed the effect of Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGBP) on diabetic and anti-hypertensive pharmaceutical utilization and cost savings at our institution. Methods: Retrospective data from the electronic database of 51 consecutive patients, who underwent RYGBP from March 2001 to May 2002 were studied. Patients had BMI >40 associated with obesity-related diabetes and hypertension. Prescription medications utilized by this cohort were reviewed preoperatively and at 3- and 9-month intervals postoperatively. Significance was analyzed by paired t-test. Results: Prevalence of diabetes and hypertension was 55.7% (29/53) and 44.3% (24/53) respectively, and 34% (18/53) patients had both co-morbidities. Preoperativeiy, patients were on an average of 2.44 ± 1.86 medications at a cost of $187.24 ± $237.41 per month. Postoperatively, the mean number of medications was reduced to 0.56 ± 0.81 agents (P<0.001) at a monthly cost of $42.53 ± 116.60 (P<0.001). Conclusions: RYGBP can decrease the prescription medication requirements, resulting in significant cost-savings in the treatment of obesity-related hypertension and diabetes. This study found a 77.3% reduction in total cost of diabetic and anti-hypertensive medications.