Inpatient Referral to Comprehensive Weight Management for Patients With Obesity

Inpatient Referral to Comprehensive Weight Management for Patients With Obesity

Hospitalized patients with obesity who are not already in CWM (comprehensive weight management), or not comfort care/hospice will be identified by the hospitalists then the study dietitian will consent for the patient for enrollment (and answer any question regarding diet/lifestyle) in the study. The intervention will be a CWM referral at discharge. The outcome will be what percentage of these patients go to the CWM clinic at 6 months. At 6 months, the investigators will also call each participant to get a qualitative idea of the process of inpatient referral and barriers to the CWM clinic visit. Weight loss, starting on anti-obesity medication, bariatric surgery will be assessed as a secondary outcome.

• The investigators will conduct an uncontrolled, one arm interventional study on Adult (≥ 18 years of age) hospitalized patients who have obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m 2 or BMI ≥ 27 kg/m 2 if Asian/South Asian), and after stabilization of their acute medical conditions. Prior to hospital discharge, patients will receive a referral for an outpatient comprehensive weight management clinic, with a message that will be sent to the CWM clinic scheduler. Then the investigators will follow the patients forward for 6 months from hospital discharge to assess primary and secondary outcomes. Also, the investigators will look at a historical control group of hospitalized patients with obesity (age, comorbidity matched) from 2014-2019 (chosen instead of 2020, to avoid any impact of 2020 COVID 19 pandemic) and compare the primary and secondary outcomes. At six months after discharge, patients will receive a phone call from the investigators to ascertain whether they were able to go to the comprehensive weight management clinic and about their experience.
• Hospitalized patients who have decision-making capacity and whose acute medical condition has been stabilized who meet study criteria will be identified by study physician(s) who will look at his/her personal patient list on a regular basis to identify patients who meet enrollment criteria and will refer the patients to the co-investigator who is not directly involved in the patient's care who will then discuss enrollment with patients.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Adult (≥ 18 years of age) hospitalized patients who have obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2 or BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2 if Asian/South Asian)
• Who have decision-making capacity
• Whose acute medical condition has been stabilized.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients in the ICU or requiring > 6 LPM of supplemental oxygen
• Patients enrolling in hospice/comfort care
• Patients who are already enrolled in weight management or have undergone previous metabolic / bariatric surgery.
• Non-English speaking patients.
• Pregnant patients