Managing childhood obesity in a patient-centered medical home setting is the fourth and final installment of APTA’s online Learning Labs series based on the Innovation 2.0 initiative. Interested members are invited to register for the interactive session, scheduled for December 15, 1:00 pm–4:00 pm.
Like the first 3 labs, the January 18 event will enable participating APTA members to hear firsthand from the physical therapist innovators who were selected to pursue new, creative models of care. This fourth lab is your chance to hear from your colleagues about working in a patient-centered medical home (PCMH).
In this innovative health care model, the physical therapist (PT) plays a key role in measurements of obesity-related signs and symptoms that affect the human movement system, including aerobic fitness and strength deficit, lower extremity joint pain, gait dysfunction, and motor control deficit. The PT also evaluates and monitors children's physical activity and sedentary behaviors, and is trained in behavioral strategies to enhance physical activity and parental support. The model measures cost-effectiveness by tracking incidence of disease rates and hospitalization for obesity-related conditions.
Referrals to specialists (such as PTs when a cluster of impairments appear that indicate a movement disorder associated with obesity) are coordinated so that appropriate care is received. Regular follow-ups document progress and help the young patients and their families with self-management. This model also could provide support for including PTs in PCMHs that target other chronic health conditions that affect movement.
The Learning Lab is a free online event intended as an advanced experience for providers who are currently active in innovative programs or ready to explore them. Participants will be expected to actively engage in the lab session, and materials will be provided beforehand to help them do so. If that’s you, visit the Innovation 2.0 webpage and scroll to the "Learning Lab" section to register.
APTA will post a recording of the event afterward, which also will include the prerecorded presentation and downloadable template—all free to APTA members.
Visit the Innovation 2.0 webpage to register for the PTs as Key Players in a PCMH Program for Childhood Obesity Learning Lab. For details on all of the projects selected for development, as well as projects that received honorable recognition, go to Innovation 2.0 Background. Profiles of each project were also featured in a September 2015 article in PT in Motion magazine.