Refer a Patient Obesity

Texas Children’s Hospital offers multiple services for the care of obesity patients. To refer your pediatric patient to one of these services, please review the service criteria and complete the associated steps:

The department of Adolescent Medicine helps overweight or obese 10-24 year olds improve their health and lose weight. They also evaluate and treat weight related medical problems, many which will improve with weight loss alone.

New patients being referred to Adolescent Medicine for weight management must meet the following criteria:

• Be between 10 and 20 years of age (care for established weight management patients can continue up to age 24)
• BMI greater than 85^th percentile

To refer your patient to the weight management services offered by Adolescent Medicine, please complete the online referral form (link).

Bariatric Surgery may be appropriate in adolescents to reverse serious medical conditions and put them on the path to life-long health. To be considered for bariatric surgery, patients must meet the following minimum criteria:

• Be between 15 to 18 years of age
• BMI of 40 or greater
• One or more obesity-related comorbidities such as type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, hypertension, psuedotumor cerebri, fatty liver disease, other

To refer your patient to Bariatric Surgery, please download the referral form (link) and fax to 832-824-7333.

The department of Gastroenterology only accepts obesity referrals for patients with a diagnosed comorbidity of:

• Elevated liver enzymes (AST or ALT >1.5 x upper limit of normal per lab AND elevated for at least 3 months (2 or more measures))

To refer your patient to Gastroenterology, please complete the online referral form (link).

Teen Wow is a multidisciplinary program to help severely obese teens stop further weight gain and achieve steady weight loss goals. Teen Wow is offered to patients that meet the following criteria:

• Be between 12 and 18 years of age
• BMI greater than 95^th percentile

To refer your patient to Teen Wow, please complete the online referral form to Adolescent Medicine (link).

Follow your patients’ care
Request access or log in to Texas Children's Link, an online provider portal connection to Texas Children’s electronic medical record. With Texas Children's Link, you are able to place and cancel orders and referrals, access patient medical records, view images, receive updates and notifications, and more.