Recorded presentation

Nancy Wongvipat, MPH, State Health Programs, Health Education Department, Health Net of California, Inc., 1055 E. Colorado Blvd. Suite 300, Pasadena, CA 91106, (626) 683-6340, nancy.wongvipat@health.net

The prevalence of overweight in children and adolescents has significantly increased over the past two decades, particularly among minority communities. Ensuring that overweight individuals receive appropriate preventive care can have substantial health benefits by reducing morbidity associated with diabetes, coronary heart disease, cancer, stroke, eating disorders and depressive symptoms, and its associated health care costs. Given that the prevalence of obesity in primary care practices is higher than rates reflected in population based surveys, providers have a significant role in impacting health outcomes in overweight patients. Unfortunately, it has been found that even though individuals with obesity visit their physician more often, they receive less preventive care services such as pelvic exams and breast exams. Physicians lack adequate education and training to treat obesity and obese patient’s preventive health care needs, and as a result, opportunities to intervene may be missed. Based on these identified needs, Health Net developed Weight Management – Be in Charge!sm, a weight management program for children and adolescents tailored to the specific needs of Medi-Cal members. This multi-level intervention initiative is a health education program implemented to test program effectiveness and the feasibility of implementing such a model in a Medicaid Managed Care setting. Processes of program development, evaluation measures, transportability and applicability of lessons learned will be discussed. Data collected include clinical outcome metrics, program utilization data and qualitative and quantitative knowledge and behavioral change metrics. Effectiveness of intervention components will also evaluated and discussed.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the advantages and opportunities of utilizing specific intervention components in implementing a childhood weight management program in a managed care setting.
• Identify the key steps needed for effective childhood weight management program development.
• Assess the feasibility of a multi-level intervention approach to implementing a childhood weight management program in their settings.

Keywords: Weight Management, Child/Adolescent

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation