CTuB1 - Incorporating Weight Management into Your Health Center

Session Description: The expansion of our knowledge of the metabolic syndrome and specifically the effect of obesity on health, the inequity of those health effects on under resourced populations along with newer and more effective obesity medications makes obesity treatment in community health centers imperative. This will allow patients to get care they need and

deserve at their community health center along with their primary care. The statistics are that almost 70% of Americans are overweight or obese but 77% of all are African American adults and 82% of those who identify as Hispanic are classified as such. Obesity care is now becoming an important part of comprehensive care to our patients.

Ryan Health has partnered with Mount Sinai Health Systems for years to provide not only care to their community of patients but as the training site for their Internal Medicine Residency. This partnership has facilitated an obesity trained physician to see patients and supervise residents in providing obesity care under her supervision in the Center for Healthy Weight Management. The Center for Health Weight Management is a novel program that has served over 200 patients and we would like to both share our experience of building a weight management program and help others to see what infrastructure they already have at their sites to build their own.