ASSESSMENT OF A MULTI-DISCIPLINARY WEIGHT MANAGEMENT CENTER AT A TERTIARY ACADEMIC MEDICAL CENTER
Thomas R. McCarty*, Pichamol Jirapinyo, Caroline M. Apovian, Ali Tavakkoli, Christopher C. Thompson
Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA
Background/Aim:
A weight management and wellness center was created at our institution in 04/2020 with goal to provide a comprehensive approach and personalized patient care. This center included medically supervised, endoscopic, and surgical weight management working in tandem with a shared physical space and patient access system for patient care. The aim of this study was to measure the impact of this multi-disciplinary weight management center on outpatient clinical and procedural volume and referral practices within the group.
Methods:
This was a retrospective study evaluating outcomes before and after creation of a multi-disciplinary weight management center. Prior to introduction of this weight center, specialties operated independently with separate call centers and variable patient access systems. Specialist specific data (obesity medicine/endocrinology, gastroenterology, and surgery), referral patterns, and patient and procedural volume was reviewed from 10/2019-10/2021. Electronic medical records were reviewed based upon billing data and analyzed across the study period. Data pre- and post-weight center (further divided into the center's first and second year of existence) were compared using a two sample t-test or chi-squared test. Year-over-year growth rate was also calculated as a performance indicator comparing outcomes in 10/2021 against the comparable 12-month period.
Results:
Data after the establishment of the weight management center is summarized by specialty in Table 1. Overall comparison of data pre- and post-weight management center revealed a non-significant increase in total clinic volume within the first year of the center; however, there was a significant increase in year two compared to pre-weight center (P<0.001). New patient clinic volume was significantly increased for all specialities at year two. Regarding referrals patterns, 15% of patients were seen by at least 2 divisions within the weight center with 1% of patients seen by all 3 divisions. Comparing year-over-year clinical volume, growth was seen for all divisions [obesity medicine/endocrine: +233%; gastroenterology: +51%; and surgery: +7%]. While clinical volume year-over-year growth was the lowest for the surgical division, the procedural growth rate was the highest with a year-over year growth of +42%.
Conclusion:
Establishment of a comprehensive center for weight management and wellness increased outpatient visits and procedural volume for all divisions (obesity medicine/endocrinology, gastroenterology, and surgery) with an increase in inter-disciplinary referrals. Surgical procedure volume saw the largest increase with most growth occurring among all divisions during year two. Future examination of patient-specific outcomes including weight management and wellness are needed to evaluate patient focused benefits of this multi-disciplinary approach.
Multi-Disciplinary Weight Management Clinic Data
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