NICHQ’s pioneering efforts to prevent and manage childhood obesity began more than a decade ago. We have spearheaded the development of tools, approaches, and measures that have made NICHQ a leading organizational resource for engaging pediatric primary care providers in addressing obesity.
We have also been innovators in bringing together multiple sectors—public health, primary care, and community organizations—to make system-level and environment changes to improve prevention and treatment for obesity.
Here are a handful of our best results from the projects in this topic area.
- Demonstrated the feasibility of improving clinical care related to obesity prevention by working with more than 30 primary care sites to implement improved care delivery methods.
- Contributed to the adoption of BMI monitoring, nutrition, and physical activity counseling as performance measures by NCQA.
- Created a national network with more than 5,000 clinicians to share information and approaches and a toolkit for implementing expert recommendations into practice.
- Developed an obesity prevention advocacy training program that has helped hundreds of participants advance policies to support healthier communities.
- Obtained commitments from three electronic health record companies to embed “healthy weight plans” in their core products, which helps to make conversations about healthy weight part of doctor visits.