Addressing Childhood Obesity in Health Centers

Promising Practices and Lessons Learned: January 2019

In the Fall of 2018, the HITEQ Center interviewed ten health centers and health center partners to identify solutions and promising practices for addressing childhood obesity across the health center program. The focus included how health centers are meeting the Uniform Data System (UDS) measure, Weight Assessment and Counseling for Nutrition and Physical Activity for Children and Adolescents (CMS155v6), and how they are taking further steps to identify and intervene with those at risk of obesity by leveraging health information technology, electronic health records, and resulting data. Seven key areas of improvement from interviews are identified in the resulting issue brief:

• Key 1. Embed Needed Data Capture in Workflow
• Key 2. Implement Successful Monitoring to Support Decision Making
• Key 3. Understand the Evidence Base
• Key 4. Identify Key Data and Metrics
• Key 5. Target Interventions Appropriately
• Key 6. Consider Alternative Appointment Types and Locations
• Key 7. Create Comprehensive, Accessible Interventions

* Download the issue brief below to see health center examples, related research, and health IT tools for each of these keys.

** The HITEQ Center is developing an Excel-based tool called the Child and Adolescent Weight Assessment and Counselling Data Validation Tool which will be available soon, along with assistance on using it. Please contact us if you are interested in this resource: hiteqinfo@jsi.com.