Startling new childhood asthma data

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  There is nothing startling here, just complete denial of the big pink

Elephant in the room named fungi and nasty household chemicals

Startling new childhood asthma data

New findings show that while America spends 50 percent more on children with

asthma, more than 1 million children with asthma remain uninsured and at risk

for inadequate carehttp://www.eurekale rt.org/pub_ releases/ 2010-02/tmca-

snc022310. php

 

 

WASHINGTON, D.C., February 23, 2010 – Researchers from The Washington

University, School of Public Health and Health Services (GW) said today that

asthma, a largely manageable and chronic disease, is on the rise in America and

released new data on the magnitude of the asthma crisis, the surging cost of

treatment, and the more than 1 million children with asthma who are uninsured.

 

A new report from GW, Changing pO2licy: The Elements for Improving Childhood

Asthma Outcomes, found that asthma adds about 50 cents to every health care

dollar spent on children with asthma compared to children without asthma. Those

most at risk – low income, medically underserved, and African-American and

Hispanic children – have the least access to preventive care and the most

visits to the ER.

 

" Childhood asthma presents one of the nation's starkest examples of what is

wrong with the health care system. Even as more than 1 million children with

asthma lack coverage, the nation is squandering health care dollars on costly

treatment while missing key prevention opportunities, " said Sara Rosenbaum, JD,

Chair of GW's, Department of Health Policy and co-lead author of the new report.

" To date, the knowledge, programs and infrastructure America has amassed about

childhood asthma is like an unassembled puzzle. We have the pieces; it's time

that we put them together. "

 

The report, supported by the Merck Childhood Asthma Network, Inc., (MCAN) and

the RCHN Community Health Foundation (RCHN CHF), is the result of a year-long

investigation into America's childhood asthma problem to discover why the

country has not benefitted more from what is known about asthma, the single most

common chronic disease among children.

 

GW researchers found that of the 1.17 million children with asthma estimated to

be uninsured, 600,000 are estimated to be eligible but not enrolled in Medicaid

or the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Another 180,000 children with

asthma would be eligible for coverage if all states were to increase coverage to

300 percent of the federal poverty level, as seven states already do.

 

With these two simple steps, America could reduce the number of uninsured

children with asthma by 75 percent.

 

" The good news is that significant improvements in childhood asthma could result

from better use of existing programs, " said Dr. Floyd Malveaux, Executive

Director of MCAN and former Dean of the College of Medicine at

University. " For those children most at risk, stable and continuous health

insurance could lead to greater access to care, controlled health spending and

improved overall health. "

 

GW identified community health centers as another resource that can be deployed

to improve asthma management for children – one in every three of whom is

poor.

 

" Located in medically-underserv ed and low income communities, health centers

report that 20 percent of the children they serve have asthma, " said Feygele

s, MPH, MS, Executive Vice President/Chief Operating Officer of the RCHN

CHF. " Community health centers could be the front door to better disease

management for children with asthma. "

 

GW identified five essential elements that are key to improving asthma outcomes

and provided practical and evidence-based recommendations about how to bring

these elements to life to improve childhood asthma outcomes:

 

Stable and continuous health insurance

Make continuous Medicaid and CHIP enrollment a part of every eligible child's

asthma treatment plan developed by the child's health care provider team.

Encourage all states to expand Medicaid and CHIP to at least 300 percent of the

federal poverty level and to adopt new options to fully cover legally resident

children.

Encourage all states to adopt Medicaid and CHIP enrollment and retention

reforms, especially reforms aimed at making enrollment and retention activities

possible through community health care providers, schools, and other locations

where children and families can easily apply for and renew coverage.

Make enhanced asthma treatment and management a specific focus of quality

performance improvement in Medicaid and CHIP.  

Provide high quality clinical care and case management for children whose asthma

is hard to manage or control, and reach all children regardless of whether they

have health insurance coverage

Create an HHS-led, cross-agency, Administration- wide national plan for changing

childhood asthma outcomes, involving: CMS, HRSA, CDC, IHS, ONCHIT, ED, HUD and

EPA.

Make performance improvement in childhood asthma a key program aim for community

health centers and the Indian Health Service, which together are health care

homes for over 7.5 million of the nation's most at risk children.  

Continuous information exchange and monitoring, using heath information

technology (HIT) as much as possible

Enhance asthma monitoring through model registries and target use of

comprehensive integrated HIT systems to promote clinical reporting as well as

coordination and communication among care providers, public health agencies and

schools. 

Asthma trigger reduction in homes and communities

Encourage public health agencies, housing authorities and environmental agencies

to promote evidence-based interventions and services that are essential to

reducing the many environmental asthma triggers that lie beyond the control of

any one family and fall outside of traditional " health care " interventions. 

Learning what works and increasing knowledge

Promote a strengthened and diversified Administration- wide research agenda to

include basic, clinical and translational/ implementation investigations.

 

" For the first time, we have a national plan that turns decades of research and

lessons learned from on-the-ground programs into recommendations that will

improve outcomes, " said Rosenbaum. " It's time to aim higher for the millions of

children with asthma and their families. "

 

###About Childhood Asthma

 

Asthma is the single most common chronic condition among children. In 2008, 1 in

every 7 children – 10.2 million – had asthma, a number that has grown

steadily over the 1997-2008 time period. It is also costly. The nation spends $8

billion alone on treating childhood asthma, more than almost any other childhood

condition. It costs another $10 billion in indirect costs related to school

absenteeism and missed work. Although asthma is nationwide, low income and

minority children bear the heaviest burden of asthma and its consequences,

including death. Compared with white non-Hispanic children asthma is 60 percent

higher among African-American children and nearly 300 percent higher among

Puerto Rican children.

 

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