1. ^*Geisinger Health Plan, Danville, Pennsylvania, Washington, DC.
2. ^†Disease Management Association of America, Washington, DC.

Correspondence: Jaan E. Sidorov Address correspondence to Jaan E. Sidorov, Geisinger Health Plan, Hughes Center North, Woodbine Lane, Danville, PA 17822. E-mail: jsidorov@thehealthplan.com

^*The costs of publication of this article were defrayed, in part, by the payment of page charges. This article must, therefore, be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

Received 1 June 2005; Revised  0000; Accepted 27 January 2006.

Abstract

Disease management, a system of coordinated health care interventions and communications for chronically ill populations, relies on patient education and case management to engage individuals in the management of their condition. Disease management also aims to enhance the quality of interactions between doctors and patients and advance evidence-based medicine. Because these programs' interventions frequently include helping individuals who suffer comorbidities associated with obesity to reduce their BMI, adaptation of disease management to populations with obesity seems a viable option. A major barrier for implementing disease management for obesity, however, is the lack of proven return on investment, which limits health plan and disease management organization interest. Purchaser demand may overcome this reluctance. Further research is needed to objectively test whether disease management interventions would be clinically effective for obese populations, produce positive financial outcomes for insurers, and enhance workplace productivity.