Combined intervention, including an online weight management program integrated with population health management, could increase weight loss at 12 months among primary care patients, reports a new study.

‘Combined weight loss intervention can facilitate potentially sustainable weight loss in the long term.
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Population health management programs given by non-clinical staff members have appeared as supplemental support systems that give outreach for preventive and chronic condition care requirements outside of primary care visits. 




"Population health managers are already doing outreach to people who would profit from weight loss, such as patients with type 2 diabetes or hypertension," stated corresponding author Heather Baer, ScD. "The plan was to leverage population health management, which is a strategy that's been implemented at the Brigham and in other institutions, to see if it could be combined with an online weight loss program and be sustainable over time."
In a cluster-randomized trial, 840 participants with overweight or obesity who had a scheduled primary care visit and aged 20 to 70 years, had a body mass index between 27 and less than 40, and had a diagnosis of hypertension or type 2 diabetes were selected.
Among primary care patients with overweight or obesity and hypertension or type 2 diabetes, combining population health management with an online program resulted in a modest but statistically significant greater weight loss at 12 months than usual care or the online program only. Further research is required to understand the generalizability, scalability, and durability of these findings.
The results are particularly notable as health care increasingly shifts to virtual forms amid the COVID-19 pandemic. "We knew that online weight loss programs could be more convenient, accessible, and more affordable for patients, but now both physicians and patients have become more comfortable with the concept of care being delivered virtually," Baer stated. "Virtual care is going to stay with us post-pandemic, and this study gives more evidence that even pre-pandemic, virtual care for some conditions is working."
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