asmbs.org

ASMBS (the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery) reports that metabolic and bariatric surgery delivers significantly greater weight loss than GLP-1 medications, based on a large real-world study it publicized in May 2026. According to ASMBS, an analysis of more than 430,000 patients found surgery outperformed GLP-1 drugs across every key measure, and a separate study reported that surgery was more effective than GLP-1 drugs at preventing heart attacks, stroke, and death in older adults. These are ASMBS news and research highlights, not treatment recommendations — the underlying studies should be reviewed directly before drawing conclusions for any individual case.

What ASMBS Reports

ASMBS presents the comparison through its news and research coverage rather than as clinical guidance. The key claims it highlights:

• Sustained weight loss: A new study highlighted by ASMBS states that bariatric surgery is significantly more effective than GLP-1 medications for sustained weight loss.
• Scale of evidence: The analysis covered 430,000+ patients and found surgery outperformed GLP-1 drugs across every key measure, including weight loss and disease remission.
• Cardiovascular and mortality outcomes: A separate study reported that bariatric surgery was more effective than GLP-1 drugs at preventing heart attacks, stroke, and death in older adults.

ASMBS frames these findings under its broader message that "Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Changes Lives," aimed at both patients and healthcare professionals.

How to Read These Findings

The claims come from ASMBS's news page, which summarizes and links to studies rather than publishing full methodology on the page itself. Before acting on any of it, keep these points in mind:

• Source type: These are news/research highlights, not ASMBS clinical guidelines or a head-to-head trial run by ASMBS.
• Population matters: The cardiovascular and mortality finding is specifically described for older adults; the weight-loss finding comes from a real-world analysis of 430,000+ patients.
• Outcome definitions vary: "Every key measure" and "disease remission" are broad summaries — the original studies define the specific endpoints.
• Individual suitability: Whether surgery or medication is appropriate depends on clinical factors that a summary cannot address.

Where to Find the Underlying Research

ASMBS points readers to its news items and the linked studies for full detail. If you want to evaluate the comparison yourself:

1. Go to asmbs.org and open the news/research section referenced on the homepage.
2. Locate the May 2026 items on bariatric surgery vs. GLP-1 medications.
3. Follow the links to the original studies to check design, population, follow-up length, and endpoints.
4. For clinical context, ASMBS also maintains educational content through its Learning and Knowledge Hub.

Who This Information Is For

• Patients and prospective patients: Use it as a starting point for questions to bring to a qualified clinician — not as a basis for choosing a treatment on your own.
• Healthcare professionals: Treat it as a pointer to primary literature worth reviewing in full.
• Anyone comparing options: Note that ASMBS's stated position is that surgery outperforms GLP-1 medications on the measures it cites; the strength of that claim rests on the underlying studies, which should be read directly.

ASMBS (the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery) offers four concrete membership benefits for healthcare professionals: a complimentary digital subscription to SOARD (Surgery for Obesity And Related Diseases), discounted registration for the ASMBS Annual Meeting, ASMBS Weekend, and post-graduate CE courses, access to the private ASMBS DocMatter online community, and inclusion in the Find a Provider registry that prospective patients can search. Membership is open to surgeons, osteopathic physicians, physicians, and supporting healthcare professionals.

The Four Membership Benefits

Complimentary SOARD Digital Subscription

Members receive a complimentary subscription to the digital version of SOARD, Surgery for Obesity And Related Diseases — ASMBS's own journal. For anyone who needs to keep current with bariatric and metabolic surgery literature, this is the benefit with the most direct day-to-day value, since it removes the cost and access friction of a separate journal subscription.

Discounted Registration for Meetings and CE Courses

Members get discounted registration to:

• The ASMBS Annual Meeting
• ASMBS Weekend
• Post-graduate CE courses

The discount applies across all three, so the benefit scales with how much continuing education you already plan to attend. If you attend the Annual Meeting regularly, this is typically the benefit that most directly offsets the cost of dues. Note that ASMBS does not publish dues or registration prices on the page referenced here, so you would need to check current rates before comparing.

Access to the ASMBS DocMatter Online Community

Membership includes access to the ASMBS DocMatter Online Community — described as a private platform where members discuss cases and engage in clinical discourse. The practical value here is peer consultation: a place to raise a difficult case or a clinical question with other bariatric professionals rather than working it out alone. Because it is private and member-only, it is not something you can access without joining.

Inclusion in the Find a Provider Registry

Your practice and contact information can be listed in the Find a Provider registry, which prospective patients search. This turns membership into a patient-facing referral channel: someone looking for a bariatric provider in your area can find you through the registry. For surgeons and practices building a referral base, this is the benefit with the clearest outward-facing return.

Who Is Eligible to Join

ASMBS states that it welcomes "all surgeons, osteopathic physicians, physicians, and supporting healthcare professionals." That is a broader eligibility set than surgeon-only societies — it explicitly includes supporting healthcare professionals, not just operating surgeons.

How to Decide Whether It Is Worth It

If you attend at least one ASMBS meeting or course per year and want the journal and peer community, the combination of benefits is straightforward. If you are a supporting healthcare professional rather than a surgeon, eligibility still applies, but weigh the registry listing and CE discounts against your actual involvement in bariatric care.

What to Check Before Joining

• Current dues and registration prices — not published on the page referenced here; confirm directly with ASMBS.
• Whether your meeting plans are concrete — the registration discount only pays off if you actually attend.
• Registry visibility — confirm what information would be listed and how patients would find it.

For the full membership details and to join, go to asmbs.org and follow the Membership section.

ASMBS (asmbs.org) gives patients a direct route to a surgeon through its Find a Provider registry — a searchable directory of member practices. You can use it if you are looking for a metabolic and bariatric surgeon and want to start from a professional-society listing rather than a general search engine. The site also maintains a For Patients section with patient-facing information, and its news and research pages can help you understand procedures before you make contact.

Start With the Find a Provider Registry

ASMBS states that member practices and contact information are included in its Find a Provider registry, which is "searchable by prospective patients." That is the site's core patient-facing tool for locating care.

What this means in practice:

• What you get: practice names and contact details tied to ASMBS membership.
• Why it matters: membership signals a professional affiliation with the society, not just a listing in an ad.
• What it does not tell you: the registry is a directory, not a ranking or a quality score. You still need to verify insurance coverage, hospital privileges, and consultation availability directly with the practice.

If you already know the city or region you want, the registry is the fastest starting point on the site. If you are still deciding whether surgery is right for you, read the patient section first.

Use the For Patients Section Before You Search

The ASMBS homepage organizes its navigation into audience-specific areas, including For Patients alongside sections for healthcare professionals and membership. That section is where patient-oriented material lives, separate from the clinical and membership content.

A sensible order of operations:

1. Read the For Patients material to understand what metabolic and bariatric surgery involves.
2. Check the research summaries on the site (see below) if you are weighing surgery against medication-based weight loss.
3. Then open the Find a Provider registry with a clearer idea of what you want to ask.

This sequence matters because the questions you bring to a consultation change depending on whether you are comparing treatment types or have already decided on surgery.

Check the Research Context on Surgery vs. GLP-1 Medications

ASMBS highlights research comparing bariatric surgery with GLP-1 medications. One featured item describes a study of 430,000+ patients finding that surgery outperformed GLP-1 drugs across key measures, and another reports surgery was more effective at preventing heart attacks, stroke, and death in older adults.

Use these as conversation starters, not conclusions:

• They are summaries of studies, not personalized medical advice.
• Outcomes depend on individual factors a directory listing cannot capture.
• Bring the specific claims to a qualified clinician and ask how they apply to your situation.

For treatment decisions, the relevant expertise is your own clinician's — the site's role is to point you toward one and give you background reading.

What the Registry Does Not Cover

Be clear about the limits before you rely on it:

ASMBS describes itself as welcoming surgeons, osteopathic physicians, physicians, and supporting healthcare professionals — so the registry reflects its membership, not the entire field.

Practical Next Steps

1. Go to asmbs.org and open the For Patients section for background.
2. Read the surgery-vs-GLP-1 research summaries if you are comparing options.
3. Search the Find a Provider registry for practices near you.
4. Contact practices directly to confirm insurance, availability, and credentials.
5. Bring the research questions you noted to your consultation.

ASMBS, at asmbs.org, is the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery — a professional medical society for surgeons, osteopathic physicians, physicians, and supporting healthcare professionals working in metabolic and bariatric surgery. Its site serves two audiences at once: patients looking for information or a provider, and clinicians looking for education, membership, and professional resources. If you are a patient researching weight-loss surgery options or a healthcare professional deciding whether to join or use its educational offerings, the site is built for you.

Who ASMBS is for

The organization describes itself as welcoming "all surgeons, osteopathic physicians, physicians, and supporting healthcare professionals." That means its core audience is clinical, not general consumer. However, the site also maintains a patient-facing section, so the public can use it to learn about metabolic and bariatric surgery and to locate a provider.

Two main paths exist on the site:

• For Patients — information about metabolic and bariatric surgery and a way to find a provider.
• For Healthcare Professionals — membership, education, and professional resources.

What you can do on asmbs.org

For patients

• Find a Provider registry — ASMBS lists member practices and contact information in a searchable registry intended for prospective patients. This is the most direct patient-facing tool on the site.
• General education — the site frames metabolic and bariatric surgery as a field that "changes lives" and provides context on the procedures and their role in patient care.

For healthcare professionals

• Membership benefits — ASMBS lists several, including:
  • A complimentary subscription to the digital version of SOARD, Surgery for Obesity And Related Diseases.
  • Discounted registration for the ASMBS Annual Meeting, ASMBS Weekend, and post-graduate CE courses.
  • Access to the ASMBS DocMatter Online Community, described as a private platform for members to discuss cases and engage in clinical discourse.
  • Inclusion in the Find a Provider registry, searchable by prospective patients.
• Learning and Knowledge Hub — webinars, courses, CME credits, and connection with experts; the site also mentions assessment-based certificate programs.
• Annual Meeting content — educational content from the ASMBS Annual Meeting 2026 in San Antonio, Texas, is available on demand.

Is ASMBS a trustworthy source?

The site states that ASMBS was named a 2025 Everyday Health Trusted Health Resource and was featured on Everyday Health's "8 Best Organizations for Obesity Support in 2025." It also publishes news items summarizing research, including a May 2026 analysis of more than 430,000 patients finding that metabolic and bariatric surgery delivered significantly greater weight loss and disease remission than GLP-1 medications, and a separate item on surgery versus GLP-1 drugs for preventing heart attacks, stroke, and death in older adults.

These are the organization's own published claims and summaries. For clinical decisions, treat them as a starting point and consult a qualified provider — the Find a Provider registry exists for exactly that purpose.

Practical takeaways

ASMBS is a professional society, not a clinic or a treatment provider. It does not offer medical care directly; it connects patients to members and gives professionals education and community. Use it to find a provider or to access clinical education, and verify any specific treatment decision with a licensed clinician.

ASMBS (asmbs.org) offers continuing education for metabolic and bariatric surgery professionals through its Learning and Knowledge Hub, an online learning platform. According to the site, the Hub provides webinars, courses, CME credits, and access to leading experts, and it currently features two new Assessment-Based Certificate programs. The Hub is aimed at healthcare professionals who want to build or refresh bariatric surgery expertise; patients looking for general information are directed to a separate "For Patients" section rather than the Hub.

What the Learning and Knowledge Hub includes

The site describes the Hub as a place to "level up your bariatric surgery expertise" and lists these components:

• Webinars — cutting-edge sessions on bariatric surgery topics
• Courses — structured educational content
• CME credits — continuing medical education credit for participants
• Expert connection — access to leading experts in the field
• Assessment-Based Certificate programs — two new programs described as "now available on The Hub"

The site does not publish a full course catalog, pricing, or eligibility requirements in the material available, so the specific number of courses, credit hours, and cost are not confirmed here. You would need to visit the LMS (linked from the ASMBS site as "Visit the LMS") to see the current catalog and any fees or membership requirements.

Annual Meeting content on demand

ASMBS makes educational content from its Annual Meeting 2026 (held in San Antonio, Texas) available OnDemand. This means professionals who could not attend in person can still access the meeting's educational sessions. The site does not specify how long the content stays available or whether there is a separate fee for OnDemand access.

How to start using the Hub

1. Go to asmbs.org and locate the Learning and Knowledge Hub section (the site links to it as "Visit the LMS").
2. Create or sign in to your account on the LMS platform.
3. Browse available webinars, courses, and the two Assessment-Based Certificate programs.
4. Check each item's page for CME credit details and any cost before enrolling.

Expected result: you gain access to the platform's course listings and can enroll in the programs relevant to your practice.

Common sticking points: the site does not state whether the Hub requires ASMBS membership, whether courses are free, or how CME credits are claimed. Confirm these on the LMS itself rather than assuming access is open or free.

Related resources for professionals

Beyond the Hub, ASMBS offers members a complimentary subscription to the digital version of SOARD (Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases), discounted registration for the ASMBS Annual Meeting, ASMBS Weekend, and post-graduate CE courses, and access to the ASMBS DocMatter online community for case discussion. These are listed as membership benefits, so some educational offerings may be tied to membership status. The site does not publish membership pricing in the available material.

Choosing based on your goal

For current course counts, credit hours, and any fees, check the Hub directly, since the ASMBS site does not publish those details.