Raise Asthma Awareness This May!

EPA Indoor Environments Division sent this bulletin at 05/04/2017 10:00 AM EDT

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May Is Asthma Awareness Month!

Together, we can help alleviate the burden of asthma in the United States. Help your asthma program grow and serve others by visiting AsthmaCommunityNetwork.org frequently this May to share your successful strategies and to learn from and collaborate with others to achieve one common goal: to help people with asthma live the healthy and active lives they deserve.

Announcing the 2017 National Environmental Leadership Award in Asthma Management Winners

Congratulations to three exceptional programs that deliver innovative and cutting-edge asthma care to those in need.

Children’s Hospital of Richmond at Virginia Commonwealth University

Children’s Hospital of Richmond at Virginia Commonwealth University’s You Can Control Asthma Now (UCAN) community asthma program helps children who live in the Richmond, Virginia, metropolitan area, where rates of both asthma and poverty are disproportionately high. Established in 2015, UCAN has served nearly 350 patients using a family-focused case management approach. Families are typically enrolled following an uncontrolled asthma-related emergency room visit or hospitalization, but they also can be referred by their primary care physician or refer

themselves. UCAN patients receive asthma education from a nurse, are assigned a pulmonologist who provides comprehensive asthma care, and are provided resources and support to address barriers to treatment following evaluation by a social worker. They receive follow-up communication via text and phone and are referred as needed for a Healthy Homes assessment through the City of Richmond Health District. UCAN also collaborates with the Medical Legal Partnership Program to empower families to address environmental housing issues not properly managed by landlords. UCAN has saved $691 per patient through decreased hospitalizations and emergency room visits, leading to an overall cost reduction of $163,958.

Health Care Service Corporation

Health Care Service Corporation, the nation’s largest customer-owned health insurer, in partnership with the American Lung Association of the Upper Midwest (ALAUM), has implemented comprehensive, community-based asthma quality improvement programs in more than 120 health care clinics in Illinois, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. The program has served an estimated 435,545 individuals across these states, including low-income Latino and Native American populations. The ongoing effort works directly with providers to improve the quality of care being delivered to patients with asthma, in addition to direct engagement with individuals through home environmental assessments that include providing asthma education and allergen-reducing and remediation products. The company leverages its own medical claims data to identify providers serving the highest-risk children with asthma, and the ALAUM invites these clinics to take part in a year-long learning collaborative and training program based on the National Asthma Education Prevention Program developed by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Overall, hospitalizations for children ages 18 and younger have reduced by 59 percent, and emergency department (ED) visits have been reduced by 54 percent. For individuals older than 18 years, results showed a 52 percent reduction in hospital stays and a 56 percent reduction in ED visits. The program also has realized a positive return on investment—a savings of $2.40 per dollar spent. Not only are patients able to better manage their asthma, but significant reductions in avoidable medical utilization drive down the cost of care for all and allow the company to play a vital role in making the health care system work.

Esperanza Community Housing Corporation

Esperanza Community Housing Corporation (Esperanza) serves the communities located in South Los Angeles, California, home to almost one million residents and one of the most economically disenfranchised areas in the County of Los Angeles. Originally a housing-based Healthy Homes program, Esperanza has grown to become a national leader in advancing Promotores de Salud (Community Health Promoters) by training community members to provide culturally accessible health advocacy and education. Since 1995, Esperanza has trained and mobilized 474 Promotores de Salud, through an intensive 6-month training, to provide culturally competent health education, advocacy, and services to families and children in South Los Angeles. Along with its team of Promotores, Esperanza works with a group of federally qualified health centers and hospitals to serve 165 patients throughout the year.

Esperanza’s Healthy Breathing program features repeated in-home visits and a year-long patient evaluation, identifies and helps control in-home asthma triggers, and provides in-depth asthma education for both patients and their caregivers. The program strives to enroll at least 500 pediatric and adult asthma patients every 3 years. These efforts have led to improvements in prescription adherence, increases in the number of patients with asthma action plans, and more efficient referrals to medical homes and wrap-around services. The Healthy Breathing program also provides valuable cost savings. A 2012 analysis of a single ED calculated more than $1.4 million in savings by utilizing preventative in-home and outreach education.

Upcoming Webinars Banner

Winning Strategies From Coast to Coast:
How EPA’s 2017 Asthma Award Winners
Are Addressing Asthma Disparities

Register today to learn best practices for addressing asthma triggers, improving health outcomes in disparate populations, and increasing access to health services from our 2017 Asthma Award winners.

Tuesday, May 16, 2017
2:00–3:30 p.m. EDT

Speakers

Tracey Mitchell, EPA, Facilitator
Bridget Burke, Health Care Service Corporation
Kathleen Bowden, Children’s Hospital of Richmond at Virginia Commonwealth University
Amelia Fay-Berquist, Esperanza Community Housing Corporation

Post your questions for our speakers in the Discussion Forum section of AsthmaCommunityNetwork.org. Immediately following the 1-hour webinar, speakers will answer questions from 3:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. EDT.

Health Plan Strategies for Managing Asthma:
Key Findings From AHIP’s Asthma Assessment

Tuesday, May 23, 2017
1:00–2:00 p.m. EDT

Register today to learn how health insurance plans use evidence-based strategies to help members manage their asthma. The webinar will feature results from AHIP’s evaluation of health plan approaches to asthma management, which sought to better understand the successes and challenges encountered.

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AAM Resources for Your Program

Spend Asthma Awareness Month (AAM) with AsthmaCommunityNetwork.org! Access tools and resources to plan meaningful AAM activities and promote your asthma program’s work:

Promote your program’s AAM events on the Events Calendar.
Use the Blog to share how your event went or how your program is making a difference in your community.
Connect with other programs in your area and across the country and collaborate to host joint events.
Share tools and materials from your program in the Resource Bank.

Check Out These Asthma Awareness Month Events

World Asthma Day
May 2, 2017
Everywhere

20th Annual Allergy & Asthma Day Capitol Hill (AADCH)
May 4, 2017
Washington, DC

8th Annual Pediatric Asthma Conference
May 4–5, 2017
Lewis Center, OH

4th Annual Breathe Easy Asthma Awareness 5K Run/Walk & Kids Fun Run
May 6, 2017
Virginia Beach, VA

Breathe Easy Asthma Awareness 5K & Kids Fun Run
May 13, 2017
Dallas, TX

National Healthy Homes and Lead Poisoning Prevention Training
May 15–18, 2017
St. Louis, MO

Winning Strategies From Coast to Coast: How EPA’s 2017 Asthma Award Winners Are Addressing Asthma Disparities
May 16, 2017
Webinar

Asthma 1-2-3 Facilitator Training–Webinar/Conference Call
May 17, 2017
Webinar

Breathe Easy Asthma Awareness 5K & Kids Fun Run
May 20, 2017
Los Angeles, CA

Breathe Easy Asthma Awareness 5K & Kids Fun Run
May 28, 2017
Oakland, CA

Hosting an asthma event? Post it to AsthmaCommunityNetwork.org and share it with our community!