Ceridian LifeWorks and Leade Health Launch Bariatric Surgery Health Coaching Service
Health Alliance Medical Plan, Illinois’ largest managed care organization, is first to sign on for new solution
Minneapolis (February 21, 2007) – Contrary to popular belief, bariatric surgery is not a quick fix to help the morbidly obese achieve permanent weight loss. Success requires making some of the most significant lifestyle changes imaginable.
In response, Ceridian LifeWorks, along with its recently acquired health coaching firm, Leade Health, today announced a new bariatric surgery health coaching service. The program is designed to identify individuals who are willing and able to make the eating and physical activity modifications necessary to help ensure success following bariatric surgery.
“Bariatric surgery is an effective way to treat people with morbid obesity, but not everyone is a good candidate,” said Ceridian LifeWorks senior vice president, Zachary Meyer. “Our role is to help identify the people who can make and maintain the necessary lifestyle changes. Spending approximately $30,000 for bariatric surgery, subjecting the patient to the risks involved and then failing to achieve long-term weight loss is in no one’s best interest.”
A key step to reducing rising health care costs
This new health coaching service also will help save payers of health care premiums, such as employers and health plans, thousands of dollars per individual. In the U.S. workforce today there is potentially tens of thousands of people who are very obese and therefore are eligible for bariatric surgery.
Realizing the need to focus this costly and potentially risky surgery on those most likely to succeed, Health Alliance Medical Plan signed on for the program on Dec. 1, 2006. Health Alliance Medical Plan is Illinois’ largest managed care organization, covering more than 250,000 lives and 800 employer groups in Illinois and Iowa.
“This unique bariatric program not only helps members manage their weight before and after such an extensive surgery, but it provides an added benefit by teaching them lasting lifestyle changes,” said Dr. Robert Scully, chief medical officer for Health Alliance Medical Plans.
Health coaches motivate and empower individuals
For those who move forward with bariatric surgery, health coaches use a motivational health coaching approach to help them make the needed lifestyle changes to maintain good health. Understanding which changes a person is ready to make – rather than dictating what changes they should make – empowers the individual. Health coaches allow the member to set their own goals related to obesity, giving them ownership of the issue.
“In the old days, a dietitian would simply tell their patients what they needed to do. We now know that doesn’t work,” said Ceridian’s Zachary Meyer. “We work to understand and uncover what barriers to change the members have and we strive to give them the confidence to follow through with the necessary long-term lifestyle changes that encourage success. After surgery, the initial results are significant, but sustained results require a lasting commitment to change.”
Program has proven success rates
Ceridian acquired Ann Arbor Michigan-based Leade Health in November 2006. Leade was founded in 1990 and specializes in health coaching in the areas of weight management, stress management, tobacco cessation and cardiovascular health. Leade Health’s success rates from its signature health coaching model achieve results that exceed national norms. The new specialty joins Leade’s pioneer health coaching programs with Ceridian’s workplace health and productivity solutions. Meyer added that relatively few companies have Leade’s experience in working with cases of extreme obesity. Of the 10,000 patients who have gone through Leade Health’s iCanChange program, 15 percent were determined to have extreme obesity and six percent of those underwent bariatric surgery.
Source: Ceridian
