Information Session

Choose a location for your surgery, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center or Sibley Memorial Hospital, and sign up for an information session. It will cover everything you need to know about the bariatric surgery process and what to expect before, during and after your procedure.

Health Questionnaire

You will receive a PDF questionnaire to complete before your consultation can be scheduled. The questionnaire is thorough, but the more information you can provide, the better our team can guide you in choosing the best surgical option.

Consultation Appointment

Once the care team reviews your questionnaire, they will contact you to schedule a consultation with a bariatric surgeon. This appointment can be conducted in person or via video, depending on your preference and availability.

Insurance Coverage

Your health insurance coverage will depend on your policy, and your insurance company may have certain requirements you need to meet to qualify. Checking your coverage early on will help you plan to meet these requirements.

Care Plan

After meeting with the surgeon and selecting the best bariatric procedure for your health goals, you will receive a detailed care plan with all the steps you need to complete leading up to the surgery. As one of the first steps, you may need to get a letter of medical necessity for the surgery, if it is required by your insurance company. Our team will help you plan this and other important appointments at or outside of Johns Hopkins.

Supervised Weight Management

Some insurance companies require patients to have documented attempts at weight loss before approving bariatric surgery. The number of health care visits needed to satisfy this requirement varies based on insurance. We offer weight-management programs at both of our surgery locations (in person or via telemedicine), or you may choose an outside provider.

Nutrition Pre-op Assessment and Education

A healthy diet is essential to achieving a healthy weight after bariatric surgery. Appointments with our bariatric dietitian are a required step of the journey. Both our surgery locations offer nutrition education classes and one-on-one consultations with a bariatric dietitian to help you learn healthy eating and lifestyle habits that will set you up for success.

Support Groups

Having support during your weight loss journey is invaluable. It is great if you have support at home, but you can also find people who are going or have gone through this process in our virtual support groups.

Presurgical Testing

Before your surgery date is set, you will need to complete some routine tests to get clearance for surgery. Our team can help you schedule the necessary appointments, which may include:

• Psychological evaluation
• Cardiac clearance / EKG
• Sleep study
• Chest X-ray
• Labs / blood work
• Up-to-date healthcare and health history
• Physical exam
• Consultation with a gastroenterologist

Surgery

On the day of your surgery, you will meet with your surgery team and anesthesiologist to go over the final details of the procedure. You will have your vitals checked and an IV line will be put in.

Once the surgery is complete, you will be monitored in a recovery room while you wake from anesthesia. You will then move to a regular hospital room for a day while your care team continues to monitor your recovery. You will be sipping fluids and walking in the hallways before leaving the hospital to go home.

Follow-ups

You will meet with your surgery and nutrition teams multiple times within the first year after surgery to monitor your recovery and weight loss progress. You should continue meeting with them once a year after that, to help keep yourself accountable.

It is important to continue following your new diet and the healthy habits you learned on your weight loss journey. This is the hardest part, but our team and support groups are always here whenever you need guidance, encouragement or medical support.