Emory Prof Leads Study on Ways to Save $15B on Medicare

A proposal published this month in Health Affairs highlights a study led by professor Kenneth Thorpe that suggests ways to save money on Medicare costs by implementing a weight loss program for overweight and obese baby boomers.

Thorpe, professor of health policy and management at Emory's Rollins School of Public Health, suggests expanding “community-based weight loss programs” and enrolling overweight and obese adults between the age of 60 and 64 in these programs before they enter the Medicare program.

“The majority of health care spending is due to increasing rates of weight-related health issues like diabetes, cholesterol and high blood pressure so by the time many people become Medicare eligible, they are already battling these health issues,” said Thorpe, who also serves as executive director of the Partnership To Fight Chronic Disease. “By focusing on weight loss and prevention, we could not only improve our country’s bottom line, we could make a huge impact in the fight against chronic disease.”

Thorpe and assistant professor Zhou Yang based the model on programs developed by , the YMCA of the USA and UnitedHealth Group.

The program, which would be organized with YMCA around the Nation, “a trained lifestyle coach helps overweight people at risk for diabetes learn about healthier food and create a fitness plan to increase physical activity.”

Studies of this program and others similar to it found that “participants age 60 and older lose weight and reduce the risk of developing diabetes by up to 71 percent.”

Thorpe and Yang estimate that the 16-week program would cost $590 million and suggest that funding come from the CDC and the Prevention and Public Health Trust Fund.

They also estimate the program would eventually save Medicare roughly $2.3 billion over the next ten years.

For more information about The Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center, visit the Emory University website.