Anita Keneipp, MS¹, Nancy Wongvipat, MPH², Peggy Haines, RN³, and Bruce Chernof, MD, FACP². (1) State Funded Programs/Health Education Department, Health Net of California, Inc., 1055 E.Colorado Blvd. #300, Pasadena, CA 91106, 626 683 6488, anita.keneipp@health.net, (2) State Health Programs, Health Education Department, Health Net of California, Inc., 1055 E. Colorado Blvd. Suite 300, Pasadena, CA 91106, (3) Public Programs Quality Improvement, Health Net of California, Inc., 21281 Burbank Blvd, Woodland Hills, CA 91367

In response to the growing need to address childhood obesity, Health Net of California, one of the country’s largest managed care organizations, launched Weight Management - Be in Charge! SM, a program created especially to meet the needs of overweight children and adolescents. The program targets Health Net’s 10-20 year old Medi-Cal members, who comprise 30% of Health Net’s Medi-Cal membership. For overweight members whose BMI falls on or above the 95th percentile, a group-level intervention in conjunction with the Weight Watchers® Program for weight management, is offered to eligible children, adolescents and their parents, with mandatory parental participation with younger children. Given that providers have a significant role in impacting behavior change in overweight patients by identifying patients who are overweight or at risk for obesity and providing brief counseling interventions, referrals to the Weight Watchers® Program can only be made through the provider after the provider assesses the child’s BMI and provides brief counseling. Research has shown that in order to combat the overweight epidemic, the most effective behavioral intervention programs have certain components that result in successful long-term weight loss such as: parent involvement; frequent meetings; and group format. Evaluation measures, such as weight change, participation rates and self reported data comprising of lifestyle changes (changes in exercise, serving sizes, fruits/vegetable intake), helpful components of the program and instructor responsiveness will be gathered to evaluate the success of the group-level component of the Weight Management – Be in Charge!sm program.

Learning Objectives: By the end of the session participants will be able to

• Describe the challenges and opportunities of utilizing a standardized group based weight management program.
• Identify the key steps needed for establishing an effective referral process.
• Assess the feasibility of a group-level intervention approach to implementing a childhood obesity program in their settings.

Keywords: Weight Management, Children and Adolescents

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.