Weight Loss Program Wins Acclaim for St. Luke’s

Bethlehem, PA (12/22/2016) – The New Direction Program at St. Luke’s Weight Management Center recently earned an Outstanding Achievement Award at the Robard Corp.’s 2016 New Direction Conference in Memphis.
Sagar V. Mehta, MD, Director of Bariatric Medicine, leads the New Direction program at St. Luke’s. This non-surgical option is offered through St. Luke’s Comprehensive Weight Management Center.

Robard Corp., based in Mt. Laurel, NJ, created the New Direction program and provides healthcare professionals with comprehensive medical and non-medical obesity treatment programs, scientifically designed nutrition products.

The Outstanding Achievement Award recognized the St. Luke’s program’s exceptional performance and innovative contributions in the care and treatment of patients with obesity based on:
• Modeling itself as a true multi-disciplinary program in the mode of a defined New Direction system with all roles strongly staffed and supported.
• Patients who met evidenced-based guidelines of losing 5-10 percent Total Body Weight during a 12 week program.
• Program growth and established expansion plans after one full year as a program
• Willingness to help and assist other centers with best practices and information exchange.

Additionally, Kate Boardman, clinical dietitian and program coordinator, made a presentation at the conference on “How to Successfully Integrate a Medically Supervised Program into an Existing Surgical Program.”

“There is a current trend for surgical programs to enhance their services by adding a medical program. Centers want to offer an option for patients who do not qualify for surgery or just do not want to go that route,” Boardman said.

The New Direction Program at St Lukes Weight Management Center was also named an East Coast Regional Training Center for other New Direction programs. This distinction means St. Luke’s will provide operation assistance for current centers and will participate in new program ideas and developments. St. Luke’s also will serve as a best practice resource for other programs.

About St. Luke’s

Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a non-profit, regional, fully integrated and nationally recognized network providing services at seven hospitals and more than 270 outpatient sites. The network’s service area includes Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon, Schuylkill, Bucks, Montgomery, Berks and Monroe counties in Pennsylvania and in Warren County in New Jersey. Dedicated to advancing health education, St. Luke’s operates the nation’s oldest School of Nursing and 22 graduate medical educational programs and is considered a major teaching hospital, the only one in the region. In partnership with Temple University, St. Luke’s created the region’s first Medical School. Repeatedly, including 2016, St. Luke’s has earned Truven’s 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation as well as 50 Top Cardiovascular program in addition to other honors for clinical excellence. St. Luke’s is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of St. Luke’s information technology applications such as electronic medical records, telehealth, online scheduling and pricing information. St. Luke’s is also recognized as one of the state’s lowest cost providers in comparison to major teaching hospitals and other health systems.