[Obesity treatment in specialized rehabilitation centers - the "Reha-Team" and process quality]

Obesity is a chronic disease with high economic relevance in particular for mutual pension funds. Evidence based guidelines describe strategies for weight reduction and maintenance. Successfull therapy requires trained staff of various professions with special skills in patient education and behaviour therapy enabling patients to make informed decisions. Using methods of quality management the process of obesity management can be optimized by training programmes as well as in-house guidelines for new obesity team members and by continued medical education in metabolic diseases and in patient communication.