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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 55 percent of Massachusetts’s adults are overweight or obese. The CDC reports that 27 percent of black adults in the state are obese, along with 21 percent of Hispanic adults, and 18 percent of white adults. What is most concerning about this is that obesity is a significant risk factor for the development of diabetes, heart disease, and other potentially deadly diseases.

Getting regular exercise and eating healthy foods are the two most important behaviors for losing weight and for keeping it off. There are extreme situations, however, where a severely obese individual and his or her doctor decide that weight loss surgery is necessary to get the patient to a healthy weight.

Bariatric surgery is another name for weight loss surgery, and is used to control morbid obesity. There are three bariatric procedures that are most common — laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB), open Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB), and laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB). The first procedure pursues weight loss by reducing the size of the stomach, thereby limiting the quantity of food that a person can take in. The other two surgeries bypass a portion of the intestines, thus reducing the absorption of nutrients.

Most Massachusetts health insurers cover some form of bariatric surgery, but some may have guidelines as to which hospitals and doctors are qualified to do the surgeries. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA), for instance, is helping hospitals meet specific standards of care surrounding performance of bariatric procedures. Beginning June 1, BCBSMA will cover bariatric surgeries only when performed at one of those certified hospitals.

The standards have been developed by an expert panel at the Betsy Lehman Center for Patient Safety and Medical Error Reduction. The standards are applied by BCBSMA for bariatric procedures and are comprehensive and focused on quality and safety. Specifically, the focus of the recommendations includes the areas of:

• Surgical care
• Criteria for patient selection and multidisciplinary (psychological, nutritional, medical) evaluation and treatment
• Patient education and informed consent
• Anesthetic care before and after surgery, and pain management
• Nursing care before and after surgery
• Pediatric/adolescent care
• Facility, quality assurance, and quality improvement resources

Some insurers might have pre-surgery weight loss steps that they require their members to take before agreeing to cover the surgery. It is crucial not only to talk to a doctor about the need and risks for surgery, but also to contact your health insurer about its requirements for coverage.