Ep. 10: Intellihealth Co-Founder, Dr. Katherine Saunders, Uses Tech to Scale Specialized Obesity Care

Show Notes:The media paints a polarizing picture of GLP-1 drugs, sometimes at the cost of obese patients who may actually benefit from medications. Today’s guest, Dr. Katherine Saunders, Co-Founder of Intellihealth, sets the record straight on all things pharmacology, lifestyle interventions, and insurance coverage.42% of Americans are obese, yet Dr. Saunders is one of less than 120 obesity fellowship-trained physicians in the U.S. She explains that obesity is not the lifestyle choice many providers believe it to be, but rather a complex chronic disease associated with over 200 weight-related health complications.Addressing this huge provider shortage and care gap, Dr. Saunders co-founded Intellihealth. Through Intellihealth’s software (Evolve) and clinical services (Flight), Dr. Saunders is scaling the specialized obesity care she delivers in her own clinical practice.Today’s episode covers GLP-1 drug coverage, Intellihealth’s tech-enabled care model, and why it’s usually not enough to treat obesity with diet and exercise alone.We also discuss what the media has gotten right and wrong about obesity drugs…Timestamps:1:12: Dr. Saunders’ training at Weill Cornell Medicine3:06: What is obesity medicine?6:04: Educating patients about GLP-1 drugs8:11 Obesity as a public health crisis10:49: How Intellihealth is using tech to scale access to obesity care12:28: Navigating GLP-1 insurance coverage16:15: Engaging multiple stakeholders to treat obesity17:22: Removing barriers to obesity care for underserved populations18:42: Efficacy of Intellihealth’s software20:14: Improving medical education curriculums21:32: GLP-1s in the media26:08: Proposing policy changes for the food industry29:32: Reducing StigmaSubscribe to Healthy Returns Today! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nolanshah.substack.com