New Program in Washington Now Available to Help Improve Care for People with Asthma

Here in Washington more than 579,000 adults and nearly 116,000 children live with asthma. To help primary care clinics and healthcare providers better care for their patients with asthma, the American Lung Association is now offering the Enhancing Care for Children with Asthma program to providers in Washington at no cost.

The American Lung Association’s Enhancing Care for Children with Asthma’s program is proven to improve a clinic’s quality of asthma care, improve health outcomes of their patients with asthma, improve quality indicators/metrics, and capture legal and appropriate reimbursement. 

“Asthma is a very common lifelong lung disease. There is no cure, but thankfully, with proper management, people with asthma can live a normal, healthy life,” said Season Oltmann, Executive Director of the American Lung Association in Washington. “Our Enhancing Care for Children with Asthma program is focused on improving the health of people with asthma starting from childhood throughout their lives.” 

This Enhancing Care for Children with Asthma’s program has been proven successful in more than 450 clinics in 15 states. Initial results published in the May 2018 issue of Journal of Asthma revealed a significant improvement in six key indicators, include severity rating; patient self-assessment, such as Asthma Control Test; controller medications; spirometry to confirm the diagnosis of asthma and ongoing management; written asthma action plan; and patient asthma education. Results also show a 42% reduction in asthma-related emergency department visits and hospitalizations.

Enhancing Care for Children with Asthma allows providers and other healthcare professionals to earn Maintenance of Certification Part 4 credits, as well as CME and CEU credits.

This program is available at no charge to primary care clinics. The Lung Association encourages clinics who serve both pediatric and adult patients to take advantage of this free program. Learn more and sign up at Lung.org/EnhancingAsthmaCare.