Mercy Awarded Nearly $3 Million for Obesity Funding

New Intensive Weight Loss Program for Mercy Patients

ST. LOUIS, Oct. 3, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Mercy received a nearly $3 million funding award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) through its Health Systems Implementation Initiative (HSII) to implement intensive lifestyle treatment programs for weight loss within primary care settings, one of only six health systems in the United States to receive funding for the project.

Recent U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show that in 23 states, more than one in three adults (35%) had an obesity diagnosis last year, including all states where Mercy provides care – Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. As U.S. adult obesity rates have risen, so have the related conditions of diabetes, heart disease and premature death.

Mercy plans to use the PCORI funding to launch the Mercy Intensive Lifestyle Treatment for Weight Loss program, available both virtually and in person, at all 237 of its primary care clinics across four states. Eligible patients will be referred to the program, self-schedule with a program team member and select individual or group virtual visits. Mercy health coaches will engage patients with informational materials and encouragement, while patients report daily blood pressure and weight through text messaging. This project will focus on implementing an intensive lifestyle program adapted from a previous PCORI-funded comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) study showing the comparative effectiveness of a clinic-based group visit intervention for weight loss.   

Led by co-principal investigators Ursula Wright, Mercy chief clinical excellence officer, and Dr. John Mohart, Mercy president of community operations, the project aims to improve patients' overall health by achieving weight loss and lower health care costs by reducing hospitalizations for obesity-related conditions.

"Mercy's PCORI funding award enables us to further translate clinical research into patient care," said JoAnne Levy, vice president of Mercy Research. "Our dedication to a learning environment ensures that evidence from research continues to improve the care Mercy provides to our patients."

Eligibility criteria will include adult patients ages 18-85 with a Mercy primary care provider, Medicare ACO or Medicare insurance, body mass index of 30 or more with an active diagnosis of congestive heart failure, or a recent hemoglobin A1C level above 9.0. Mercy anticipates nearly 35,000 of its patients will be eligible to benefit from the program.

"The intent of the program is to implement it across all Mercy primary care clinics, receive feedback and ultimately expand the program to all Mercy primary care patients interested in weight management regardless of other diagnoses," Wright said. "Our teams will begin building the back-end technology for the program in December 2024, with the program slated to start for patients in November 2025 and run through at least 2028."

In February 2023, Mercy was selected to join PCORI's Health Systems Implementation Initiative (HSII) following a PCORI funding opportunity that sought HSII participants to promote evidence-based practice based on findings generated from PCORI-funded, patient-centered CER. The HSII, with 42 health systems participating, aims to reduce the estimated 17-year gap between evidence publication and clinical application. The initiative recognizes that health systems' practical experience and real-world insights are crucial for sustainable, large-scale implementation of practice-changing findings in clinical care. 

PCORI is an independent, nonprofit organization authorized by Congress with a mission to fund patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research that provides patients, their caregivers and clinicians with the evidence-based information they need to make better-informed health and health care decisions.  

This funding award has been approved pending completion of PCORI's business and programmatic review and issuance of a formal award contract.

Mercy, one of the 20 largest U.S. health systems and named the top large system in the U.S. for excellent patient experience by NRC Health, serves millions annually with nationally recognized care and one of the nation's largest and highest performing Accountable Care Organizations in quality and cost. Mercy is a highly integrated, multi-state health care system including more than 50 acute care and specialty (heart, children's, orthopedic and rehab) hospitals, convenient and urgent care locations, imaging centers and pharmacies. Mercy has over 900 physician practice locations and outpatient facilities, more than 4,500 physicians and advanced practitioners and 50,000 co-workers serving patients and families across Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. Mercy also has clinics, outpatient services and outreach ministries in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. In fiscal year 2023 alone, Mercy provided more than half a billion dollars of free care and other community benefits, including traditional charity care and unreimbursed Medicaid.

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SOURCE Mercy