Blue Cross And Blue Shield Of Kansas City Tackles Childhood Obesity With Launch Of Innovative Physician Toolkit

The new pilot program is being launched in five states and was developed in consultation with the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, the American Diabetes Association, the American Academy of Pediatricians, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

November 17, 2009

KANSAS CITY – In an effort to help reduce childhood obesity and prevent future cases of diabetes, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City is participating Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association's Pediatric Obesity and Diabetes Prevention Pilot Program.

The prevalence of obesity among children ages 6 to 11 has more than doubled in the past 20 years from 6.5 percent in 1980 to 17 percent in 2006.1

The pilot program consists of an easy-to-use obesity and diabetes prevention toolkit designed for physicians, that has convenient physician reference materials, as well as educational and behavior changing tools to share with patients and parents.  The toolkit, developed in consultation with key stakeholders including the American Diabetes Association (ADA), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), encourages healthy choices and behaviors and will be piloted in collaboration with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, as well as Blue Plans in Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina and Texas.

Blake Williamson, M.D., vice president and senior medical director of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, said, "Combating childhood obesity in our community has been a long-standing focus of our wellness activities.  As a result, we were very pleased to be selected as one of five Blue Plans to implement this new toolkit in our area as part of the pilot program.  Our hope is that, through the broad dissemination of this toolkit to providers and parents, and further education on healthy choices, we can help stem the ever increasing numbers of obese children and children with diabetes."

The toolkit is a compilation of materials that display healthy messages from The Good Health Club, a group of animal characters.  The Good Health Club encourages kids to:

• Eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables every day
• Limit screen time to 2 hours or less
• Get at least 1 hour of physical activity
• Limit sweetened drinks to 0

BCBSA and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies involved in the pilot will collect feedback and findings from physicians through discussion and surveys.  Upon conclusion of the pilot, BCBSA will use the findings to create a nationally available toolkit to assist physicians, children and families in reducing childhood obesity and preventing future cases of diabetes.

About Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, the largest not-for-profit health insurer in Missouri and the only not-for-profit commercial health insurer in Kansas City, has been part of the Kansas City community since 1938.  Blue KC provides health coverage to nearly one million residents in the greater Kansas City area, including Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas and 30 counties in Northwest Missouri.  Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

For more information on the company, visit its Web site at www.BlueKC.com.  Our mission:  to use our role as the area's leading health insurer to provide affordable access to healthcare and to improve the health and wellness of our members.

References
1. Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Flegal KM. High Body Mass Index for Age Among US Children and Adolescents, 2003-2006. JAMA. 2008;299(20):2401-2405.