The Program
The Healthy Weight Clinic (HWC) is a CDC-recognized Family Healthy Weight Program that delivers intensive Health Behavior Lifestyle Treatment (IHBLT) for children and adolescents with overweight or obesity consistent with AAP guidelines.
The HWC:
- is delivered in a clinical setting (primary or tertiary care) for children aged 2-18 with a BMI ≥ 85th percentile
- consists of individual visits with a multidisciplinary clinical care team, telephone check-ins and group sessions with other families, over 12 months
- has been successfully deployed in a variety of clinic settings, including federally qualified health centers, in urban, rural, and suburban areas, with diverse patient and family populations, and via in-person and hybrid approaches.
HWC Impact
- Improved quality of life for patients and families
- Effective reduction of BMI, parental stress, and binge eating symptoms
- Can be cost-effective in clinical settings
- National implementation expected to save $14.6 million in health care costs over years
- Can be revenue generating for FQHCs and community health centers
Unique Value of the HWC
What is included in the HWC package?
There is an implementation package t ohelp you launch and maintain the HWC in your clinic or in partnership with a clinic in your community. The HWC package includes a suite of resources, training and technical assistance to facilitate implementation & maintenance of the HWC. Highlights include:
- Key HWC resources: Group visit curriculum, individual visit clinic flow, clinical decision supports, community resource guide templates, tracking/documentation templates, patient education resources in English & Spanish (handouts, goal sheets, education videos, etc.), text and social media messaging library
- Key strategies to support implementation: training modules, technical assistance, office hours and a structured and dynamic quality improvement learning collaborative (healthcare providers can earn MOC and CME or CEU credits).
- Key topics addressed via the HWC group curriculum: Healthy foods, creating a healthy home, healthy drinks, portion sizes and healthy options, behaviors and emotions around eating, physical activity, bullying and teasing, feeling good about yourself, sleep and screen time, label reading meal patterns and snacks
HWC Team Members & Roles
|
HWC Team Member |
Key Roles |
Providers that can Fulfill Role |
Required or Preferred Specialty |
%Time(avg)* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
HWC Healthcare Provider |
|
MD, DO, NP/DNP, PA |
Pediatrics or Family Medicine (R) |
15-20 |
|
HWC Nutrition-Focused Provider |
|
|
|
35-50 |
|
HWC Community-Based Provider |
|
|
|
45-60 |
What do you need to implement HWC?
- A clinic setting with a staff person to act as a champion
- Buy-in from clinic leadership and relevant community partners
- A multidisciplinary clinic team, including a medical provider, a staff person or medical provider skilled in nutritional assessment and counseling, and a staff person with ability to connect families to and educate on relevant community resources
- Willingness to engage as a team in an ongoing learning collaborative and training for the first 12 months of implementation
- Operational capacity to schedule individual visits with patients and families specifically for obesity treatment
- Infrastructure to support in-person or virtual group sessions with multiple children/adolescents and parents (i.e., room to hold session in-person and/or platform to hold virtual sessions)
Interested in bringing the HWC to your community?
Reach out to the Institute for Healthy Childhood Weight to get started.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the following individuals who were pivotal to the successful development of the Healthy Weight Clinic.
Developed in partnership by Mass General for Children and the AAP Institute for Healthy Childhood Weight (IHCW), with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Last Updated
09/17/2024
Source
American Academy of Pediatrics