Oral

Kaiser Permanente (KP) is pursuing a comprehensive approach to obesity prevention - "Healthy Eating, Active Living" (HEAL) - that focuses on all members of the communities it serves, including KP non-members as well as KP members and staff. The central element is the Community Health Initiative (CHI), a place-based approach currently being implemented in nine geographic communities in five KP regions nationwide. CHI emphasizes multi-sectoral collaboration leading to long-term policy and environmental changes. Other activities targeting the broader community include initiatives promoting farmer's markets and limiting TV exposure. In addition to the community-level efforts, KP is pursuing internal organizational practice changes; for example, purchasing local, healthier food for the KP cafeterias and vending machines, and serving healthier meals at meetings. Finally, a number of innovative programs have been developed to reduce overweight among KP members, including tracking BMI as a vital sign, physician training programs on counseling strategies, and point-of-care prompts in exam rooms Taken together, the KP initiatives represent an innovative approach to obesity prevention, incorporating the latest thinking on using policy and environmental change to promote community-level health improvement, and evidence-based organizational practice change that can provide a model for other community organizations. This session will provide a conceptual overview for KP HEAL initiatives, provide details on CHI and the KP organizational changes, and describe the evaluation approach.

CE Credits: CME, Health Education (CHES), Nursing