(NEW YORK) October 1, 2009 – Today the Alliance for a Healthier Generation announced plans for 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.
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 (Alliance Healthcare Initiative), launched earlier this year.
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.
“In the past 25 years, childhood obesity has tripled. As obesity rates have climbed, so too have rates of associated health conditions,” says Kenneth E. Thorpe, PhD, director of the Institute for Advance Policy Solutions at Emory University who will serve as principal investigator of the study. “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.”
In preparation for today’s announcement, representatives from Aetna, WellPoint, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, along with PepsiCo and Nationwide Children’s Hospital met in mid-August with investigators from the Institute for Advance Policy Solutions to develop the evaluation design and discuss issues of data collection and analysis from this diverse group of pilot projects. The American Academy of Pediatrics, American Dietetic Association and American Heart Association were also represented at the meeting.
“Through the Alliance Healthcare Initiative more than one million children in the U.S. have access to healthcare benefits to combat obesity. 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,” said Ginny Ehrlich, executive director of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. “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.”
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.
About the Alliance for a Healthier GenerationThe American Heart Association and the William J. Clinton Foundation joined forces in May of 2005 to create a healthier generation by addressing one of the nation’s leading public health threats – childhood obesity. The goal of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation is to reduce the nationwide prevalence of childhood obesity by 2015, and to empower kids nationwide to make healthy lifestyle choices. The Alliance works to positively affect the places that can make a difference to a child’s health: homes, schools, restaurants, doctor’s offices and communities. For more information please visit: HealthierGeneration.org.
About the Institute for Advance Policy Solutions at Emory UniversityEmory’s Institute for Advanced Policy Solutions serves as a critical hub for broad interdisciplinary research, applied policy development and public policy training - all focused on evidence-based, innovative solutions to complex problems facing the public, private and nonprofit sectors. Kenneth E. Thorpe, PhD is the former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health Policy in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under President Clinton. He regularly testifies before the U.S. House and Senate on issues of health care financing, insurance and health care reform, advises state governments on health reform efforts, and is a frequent commentator for print and broadcast media. For more information, visit www.emory.edu/policysolutions.
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