"Whether the facility is planning on taking bariatric admissions or not, they're going to get them," says Muir. "They're going to show up on their doorstep. [They] need to be planning for it."

The weigh things are


The statistics about America's expanding waistline are grim: about one-third of U.S. adults are obese (having a BMI of 30 or higher), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although studies show that the obesity growth rate may be slowing down, 17 percent of children and adolescents are considered obese. In light of the alarming facts, is the nation's health care system ready to meet the needs of its bariatric patients?

According to the 2010 Bariatric Report by Novation, a health care supply contracting company, more than 48 percent of health care providers saw an increase in the admissions of obese patients and 13 percent saw a significant increase since 2008. The report was based on a nationwide survey of VHA Inc., and University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) member hospitals.

According to the report, 28 percent of respondents indicated that they invested in capital renovation projects in 2009 and another 8 percent said they are planning to do so in the near future in order to accommodate the morbidly obese.

St. Luke's Hospital and Health Network in Allentown, Pa. began to take steps to accommodate this growing patient population in 2008. The hospital added two bariatric-specific rooms and was gearing up to launch a bariatric surgery program. But the administration and the staff realized they needed to do more.

"If you figure that a third of the U.S. population is obese and you have only two rooms that have bariatric furniture, it's just not enough to address the population that's out there," says Maureen Miletics, the hospital's director of bariatric services. "If you think about all the medical conditions that go along with obesity, they're the ones who are going to be coming into the hospital. We needed to really take a look everywhere - the lobby areas and the waiting rooms - do we have proper equipment to care for the bariatric patients here?"

The hospital formed a multi-disciplinary Bariatric Services Committee to make recommendations for the purchasing of bariatric furniture and equipment.

"We had seen patients come into the lobby and while they were waiting to move into the room, to look [without success] for a chair to sit in," says Miletics.

Today, all waiting rooms and lobby areas within the hospital have bariatric rated furniture. Toilets in areas where patients might receive care or spend time waiting are floor supported. The facility also purchased equipment such as commodes, recliners, exam tables and scales. But the additions were not without challenges.

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