Care Continuum Executive Summit on Implementation and Cost Benefit of Workplace Weight Management Strategies-- For Employers, Health Plans, Providers, Government

Cosponsored by Medical Education Collaborative

In Association with Shape up America, American Society of Bariatric Surgery, Obesity Management Journal, NAASO - The Obesity Society and the National Coalition for Promoting Physical Activity

In terms of productivity, 58 million days of work are lost in relation to obesity amounting to $5.7 billion, annually (Business and Health). However, with all this awareness this problem remains prolific. The Care Continuum World Summit on the Implementation and Cost Benefit of Workplace Weight Management Strategies examines the effectiveness of industry approaches such as fitness, nutrition and weight loss treatments--behavioral, drug and surgical--to overweight and obesity. This Summit will present: behavior modification to promote healthy lifestyles to control weight; methods and cost-effective approaches to confront overweight and obesity and strategies corporations and health plans can use to change the environment.

Employers, health plans, providers and government can influence weight loss at work by allocating spending on treatment for behavioral health and weight loss programs, creating formulary metrics for weight loss drugs and criteria for bariatric surgery. Behavioral health approaches to diet can be implemented with health and financial incentives and programs that offer social support such as Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig. Weight loss drugs have also shown effectiveness, but questions remain about criteria, which ones should go on formularies and how employers should negotiate with pharmaceutical companies. Bariatric surgery has shown results in morbidly obese patients with significant decreases in chronic disease with weight loss. The procedure has become safer with the use of Centers of Excellence and defined criteria.

Profiles of successful corporate weight loss, fitness and nutrition programs provide benchmarks for comparison. These include the ROI of health risk appraisals, cost-benefit of weight loss counseling, innovative fitness centers, physician driven nutrition and surgical options, best-practices with cafeteria vendors and programs for low risk to high risk. Four keynotes, case studies, six seminars, interactive luncheon roundtables and a networking reception provide opportunities for attendees to evaluate outcomes and costs of weight loss options as they decide on strategies to implement in their organizations.

Topics

• Assess Obesity as a Precipitator of Comorbid Chronic Disease
• Improve Work Incentives to Impact Employee Fitness and Productivity
• Case study in Behavioral Change of Comorbid Overweight with Coronary Artery Disease: Coronary Health Improvement Project (CHIP) Addresses Rich Diet and Lack of Exercise
• Determine the Cost-benefit of Commercial Weight Loss Programs
• Evaluate Health Plan Strategies to Reduce the Incidence and Cost of Overweight and Obesity
• Analyze and implement Comparative Diets in the Company Cafeteria for Weight Loss and Healthy Weight
• Use Behavior Modification and Motivational Tools to Maintain Healthy Body and Healthy Weight for Health Plans
• Prevent and Treat the Incidence of Childhood Obesity
• Assess the Outcomes and ROI of Weight Loss Drugs
• Implement Weight Loss Options at All Levels of the Company
• Evaluate the Return of Bariatric and Laparospic Surgery
• Putting It All Together: Analyze and Choose Weight Loss Options That Are Right for Your Organization's Population

Featured Speakers To Date
Chair Gary Earl Former Vice President, Health & Benefits Caesar's Entertainment	Keith Bachman, MD Clinical Lead-CMI Weight Management Initiative, Kaiser Permanente Care Management Institute
David W. Ballard, PsyD, MBA Assistant Executive Director Corporate Relations and Business Strategy Practice Directorate American Psychological Association	Vicki Banks Director of Benefits & Staffing Services The Biltmore Company
Jan Berger, MD, MJ Senior Vice President, Chief Medical Officer Accordant/Caremark	Erin Berner Health Promotion Specialist Kellogg Company
Susan Burke, MS, RD, LD/N Vice President Nutrition Services eDiets.com	Mardi L. Burns, CHC Vice President Senior Benefits Consultant Associated Financial Group
Larry Chapman, MPH Chairman of the Board Summex Corporation	Diane H. Cheatham, RNC, BSN, CCM Corporate Director Community Health and Wellness Atlanticare Health System
Kent R. Coykendall Vice President Strategic Planning & Business Development Jenny Craig	Pierre Cremieux, PhD Managing Principal Analysis Group
Timothy Crimmins, MD Vice President Health Services Education General Mills	Leslie B. Crow, MS Wellness Programs Administrator The Boeing Company
Tracey Crowell Corporate Benefits Health and Wellness Fidelity Investments	Hans Diehl, DrHSDc, MPH, FACN President, Lifestyle Medicine Institute Loma Linda, CA
Morgan Downey, JD Executive Director Chief Executive Officer American Obesity Association	Michael Dubroff, DO Director of Clinical Client Relationships Highmark
Robert H. Eckel, MD Charles A. Boettcher Endowed Chair in Atherosclerosis Professor of Medicine, and of Physiology and Biophysics Program Director, Adult GCRC Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes; and Cardiology University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center Aurora, Colorado President, American Heart Association	Kate Fitch, RN, MEd, MA Principal, Health Care Management Consultant Milliman
Mary Flynn, PhD, LDN Assistant Professor of Medicine in Research Brown University	Andrea Gelzer, MD, MS, FACP Senior Vice President Clinical Public Affairs CIGNA
Cecily Hall Director, US Benefits Microsoft Corporation	Chris Harter Wellness Program Manager Mutual of Omaha
Saira A Jan, M.S., Pharm D. Director of Clinical Pharmacy Program Management Associate Professor Rutgers State University of New Jersey	Douglas Knoop, MD Senior Medical Director Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina
Karen Miller Kovach, R.D. Chief Scientific Officer, and Vice President of Research and Development Weight Watchers International, Inc.	Jason Lee, PhD Director of Research and Policy National Institute for Health Care Management and Research and Educational Foundation
Edward Livingston, MD Chief Gastrointestinal Surgery University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Chief Bariatric Surgery Department of Veterans Affairs	Barry L. Miller, MD Medical Director Internal Medicine Consultant Center for Weight Management Flint, MI
Jim Mizes President Chief Executive Officer Club One	Linda Moon Health Promotion Manager Texas Instruments
Catherine Murphy-Baron Consulting Actuary Milliman	Esther F. Myers, PhD, RD, FADA Research and Scientific Affairs American Dietetic Association
Elizabeth Ofili, M.D., M.P.H. Associate Dean for Clinical Research, Director, Clinical Research Center, Chief of Cardiology and Professor, Department of Medicine Morehouse School of Medicine M.D., Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria M.P.H., Johns Hopkins University	Chrissy Ortolf, RN School Nurse Brigantine Elementary School
Ronald J. Ozminkowski, Ph.D. Associate Director Institute for Health and Productivity Studies Cornell University Institute for Policy Studies	John Peters, PhD Director of the Nutrition Science Institute Procter & Gamble Chief Executive Officer America on the Move Foundation
Mindy Pomatto, MA Health & Physical Education Teacher Brigantine Elementary School	Nico Pronk, Ph.D., FACSM, FAWHP Executive Director, Health Partners Health Behavior Group; Vice President, Health & Disease Management, Senior Research Investigator HealthPartners Research Foundation
Michele Reyes, PhD Team Leader for Translation, Information, Dissemination and Evaluation for Obesity Prevention and Control Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion	Patricia Salber, MD, MBA Chief Executive Officer Center for Pracital Health Reform
Linda G. Snetselaar, RD, LD, PhD Professor and Chair, Preventive Nutrition Education Department of Epidemiology College of Public Health University of Iowa	David Tanis Health Promotion Specialist Kellogg Company
Christopher Valerian, MD Medical Director Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey