Emory Researchers to Evaluate Childhood Obesity Interventions
Oct 6, 2009    Emory University - ARCHE News Service   

For Immediate Release: October 6, 2009
EMORY Health Sciences News, http://emoryhealthsciences.org
Media Contact: Ashante Dobbs, 404-727-5692,
adobbs2@emory.edu

Emory Researchers to Evaluate Childhood Obesity Interventions

The Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a joint initiative of the American Heart Association and the William J. Clinton Foundation, has selected Emory University’s Institute for Advance Policy Solutions to conduct a process and outcomes evaluation of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation’s Healthcare Initiative, launched earlier this year.

This is the nation’s first comprehensive research study evaluating clinical interventions for childhood obesity. The study will help inform the science base and uncover effective clinical solutions to the childhood obesity epidemic.

“In the past 25 years, childhood obesity has tripled,” says study principal investigator Kenneth E. Thorpe, PhD, Robert W. Woodruff professor and chair, Department of Health Policy & Management, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, and director of the Emory Institute for Advance Policy Solutions. “As obesity rates have climbed, so too have rates of associated health conditions. By analyzing the implementation of clinical processes and the health outcomes delivered, we will be able to determine the most effective method for clinically combating childhood obesity.”

The Alliance Healthcare Initiative is a collaborative effort with national medical associations, leading insurers and employers to enable families to work with their primary care physicians and registered dietitians to achieve lifelong health. Eligible children have access to at least four follow-up visits with their primary care provider and at least four visits with a registered dietitian per year.

“Through the Alliance Healthcare Initiative, more than 1 million children in the U.S. have access to healthcare benefits to combat obesity,” says Ginny Ehrlich, executive director of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. Providing these groundbreaking health benefits is important, but we also believe that we need to ‘keep score,’ meaning evaluation of our process and the outcomes is imperative.

“We are honored to be working with Dr. Ken Thorpe and his team from the Institute for Advance Policy Solutions to evaluate and report on the findings from the Alliance Healthcare Initiative,” says Ehrlich.

The Institute for Advance Policy Solutions will work with each insurer and employer to collect data and will provide an annual evaluation of the Initiative during the first three years, with a final report to be published in 2012.

For more information, visit www.emory.edu/policysolutions.

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The Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center of Emory University is an academic health science and service center focused on missions of teaching, research, health care and public service. Its components include the Emory University School of Medicine, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, and Rollins School of Public Health; Yerkes National Primate Research Center; Emory Winship Cancer Institute; and Emory Healthcare, the largest, most comprehensive health system in Georgia. Emory Healthcare includes: The Emory Clinic, Emory-Children's Center, Emory University Hospital, Emory University Hospital Midtown, Wesley Woods Center, Emory University Orthopaedics & Spine Hospital, the jointly owned Emory-Adventist Hospital, and EHCA, a limited liability company created with Hospital Corporation of America. EHCA includes two joint venture hospitals, Emory Eastside Medical Center and Emory Johns Creek Hospital. The Woodruff Health Sciences Center has a $2.3 billion budget, 18,000 employees, 2,500 full-time and 1,500 affiliated faculty, 4,300 students and trainees, and a $5.5 billion economic impact on metro Atlanta.

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