Asthma management programs in managed care organizations

The aim of this work was to investigate how managed care organizations (MCOs) currently approach asthma treatment and management and to determine factors affecting asthma outcomes. A Web-based survey was administered to a national sample of 351 medical directors of MCOs to investigate the asthma management program components in their organizations as well as gaps and barriers in the management of patients with asthma. All 134 (38.2%) responding medical directors reported that their organizations monitor asthma patients. Plans use a variety of asthma management activities, including general member education (90%), member education by mail (87%), self-management education (85%), and provider education (82%). Educational resources (89%) and telephone advice nurse (77%) were the most common self-management strategies offered. Among factors impeding the provision of effective asthma care, noncompliance with asthma treatment, the inappropriate use of medications, and the need for multiple medications were cited by virtually all respondents. Health plans rely on an array of strategies to manage asthma patients. Education encouraging patient self-management is a key component of asthma management programs. However, a considerable number of treatment approach barriers are impeding the achievement of proper asthma care. Without innovative approaches to care, it appears that current MCOs’ asthma management efforts may not result in substantial improvements in asthma outcomes

Helping Low-Income Families Manage Childhood Asthma: Solutions for Healthcare & Beyond

Asthma is the most common childhood chronic illness, affecting more than seven million children nationwide. Managing chronic illness in a child is challenging for any family. Among the challenges is constant fear of an acute episode, a complex regimen of medications given daily or many times each day, frequent changes in prescriptions or dosages, coordinating multiple healthcare providers, and helping a child have as "normal" and active a childhood as his/her condition allows. Low-income children of color bear a heavier asthma burden than their white or more affluent peers. Those low-income children who live in urban areas such as Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York are particularly vulnerable. Families with limited resources struggle to provide their children with asthma the support that these children need

Patient reported burden of asthma on resource use and productivity across 11 countries in europe

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Sponsorship for this study and article processing charges were funded by Mundipharma International Limited (Cambridge, UK). All named authors meet the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) criteria for authorship of this manuscript, take responsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole, and have given final approval to the version to be published. We thank Emily Taylor, Incite Marketing Planning Limited (London, UK) for assistance in data analysis and Caoimhe McKerr (Adelphi Values, Bollington, UK) for editorial assistance. Support for this assistance was funded by Mundipharma International Limited. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Changes in initial COPD treatment choice over time and factors influencing prescribing decisions in UK primary care : a real-world study

Acknowledgements Samantha Holmes (CircleScience, an Ashfield Company, part of UDG Healthcare plc) and Paul Hutchin (contracted to CircleScience, an Ashfield Company, part of UDG Healthcare plc) provided medical writing assistance. Funding The study was funded by Novartis Pharma AG (Basel, Switzerland).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

County and City Health Departments: The Need for Sustainable Funding and the Potential Effect of Health Care Reform on Their Operations

Outlines the role of local health departments, the impact of funding cuts on staff, programs, and services, and the implications for public health. Recommends securing dedicated funding sources and a central role in national healthcare reform

Asthma referrals : a key component of asthma management that needs to be addressed

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Physician Organization in Relation to Quality and Efficiency of Care: A Synthesis of Recent Literature

Summarizes research linking cohesion, scale, and affiliation in physician groups to improved quality and efficiency. Discusses implications for promoting delivery system reform through physician group organization and changes to the payment system

Randomised feasibility study of a novel experience-based internet intervention to support self-management in chronic asthma.

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"This illness diminishes me. What it does is like theft" : A qualitative meta-synthesis of people's experiences of living with asthma

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This review was funded through a Seed Grant from the Centre for Research Excellence in Severe Asthma, Australia. The Healthtalk resources included in the systematic review were produced by two of the co-authors on the systematic review (SK and LL). LL is supported by NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre.Peer reviewedPublisher PD