Alliance Healthcare Initiative to Provide Families With Assistance in Combating Obesity

Prevalence of Overweight Among Children and Adolescents: United States, 1999-2000. (2002). National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Website. Graphic courtesy of Discovery Health CME.NEW YORK – The Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a joint initiative of the American Heart Association and the William J. Clinton Foundation, announced the formation of the Alliance Healthcare Initiative, a collaborative effort with national medical associations, leading insurers, and employers to offer comprehensive health benefits to children and families for the prevention, assessment, and treatment of childhood obesity.

“Nearly one in three children in the U.S. is overweight or obese – we are confronting a public health crisis,” said former President Bill Clinton, who will co-lead the AHI with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and American Heart Association President Tim Gardner.

The AHI will enable healthcare providers to be active participants in the decline of obesity by providing children with primary care visits, and visits to registered dietitians as part of their health insurance benefits. Additionally, the AHI will educate parents about childhood obesity and the expansion of services available to their children as a result of this effort.

Through this program, doctors will be reimbursed for bringing children back for follow-up visits and for working with them on the adoption of healthy behaviors. Registered dietitians will also be reimbursed for providing in depth nutrition counseling over multiple visits to those children that are referred by their doctors.

Several health insurance organizations are already part of this effort, including Aetna, Blue Cross of North Carolina, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, and WellPoint.

Participating companies will have access to materials and resources developed by the AHI to inform parents about childhood obesity prevention and treatment.

Major corporations participating in the AHI as customers of Aetna, include the Houston Independent School District, Owens Corning, and Paychex. In addition, PepsiCo has also joined the Alliance to offer these benefits.

During the first year of this program, nearly one million children are expected to have access to these benefit options, according to the AHG. The long-term goal of the AHI is that within the first three years, 25 percent of all overweight children (approximately 6.2 million) will have access to these benefits, adds the AHG.

By helping children to work with their primary care physicians, insurers can facilitate the introduction of benefits designed to keep future healthcare costs low and improve the overall health and well being of children and families, according to the AHG.