Description, utilisation and results from a telehealth primary care weight management intervention for adults with obesity in South Carolina.

Introduction: In the US, obesity rates are higher in rural areas than in urban areas. Rural access to treatment of obesity is limited by a lack of qualified clinicians and by transportation and financial barriers. We describe a telemedicine weight management programme, Wellness Connect, developed through a partnership of academic clinicians and rural primary care providers in South Carolina, and present utilisation and weight outcomes from seven patient cohorts.

Comparative effectiveness research in the "real" world: lessons learned in a study of treatment-resistant hypertension.

Comparative effectiveness research (CER) is vital to translate new efficacious diagnostic and therapeutic approaches into effectiveness in usual clinical practice settings. Studying the practice environment in which effectiveness protocols are implemented is necessary to identify the complex challenges that can limit translation of evidence. These issues were addressed in our National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute-funded R34, "Controlling Blood Pressure in Treatment-Resistant Hypertension (TRH): A Pilot Study.