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Last week SurfingNASH offered a final re-focus on an episode that originally aired during Season 1. Continuing on the focus around allied health, this session dives into the role of nurses, physicians and allied health professionals in supporting NASH patients - a topic of increasing relevance as the field grapples with new nomenclature for liver disease and the imminence of therapeutic approvals. Specifically, the group explores whether healthcare systems can be as effective as companies like Noom and WeightWatchers.

This conversation starts with Louise agreeing enthusiastically with Stephen's comments around keeping things simple. Roger asks Stephen and Louise how often we believe the treater should see the patient. They each answer that three months seems to be the right visit frequency and discuss what they consider important elements for that visit. Peter notes that the COVID pandemic is teaching us that visits can occur by video call, which reduces the cost for each visit in terms of money to health care system and time to the practitioner. Roger shares some of what he has learned as a patient who has lost significant amounts of weight on three occasions in his life. Roger finishes his comments by asking whether the formal health care system should take greater advantage of weekly and biweekly online assistance programs like Noom, which was in a dramatic growth spurt during the early days of the pandemic. Louise closes this conversation by agreeing that this idea has value.

If you have questions or comments around our From the Vault series, allied health, education or any other ideas addressed in this episode, we kindly ask that you submit reviews wherever you download the discourse. Alternatively, you can write to us directly at [email protected]. The Surfing the NASH Tsunami will be back next week with more original content.

Stay Safe and Surf On!