Hospital planners and marketers face a significant challenge in growing bariatric surgery volumes: Prospective patients tend to underestimate their obesity, and very few of those eligible choose weight loss surgery as a solution. In fact, information presented at the 2017 Obesity Week conference suggested less than 1% of eligible patients get weight loss surgery.

To tap into bariatric surgery growth, planners and marketers need to mitigate the barriers that prevent patients from seeking surgery. Read on for three common barriers to surgery, and how you can overcome them.