Pediatrician David Link is clear about the impact of asthma on children. “No single childhood illness causes more school absenteeism or is a greater impediment to a child’s health and sense of well-being,” says Link, Chief of Pediatrics and Program Director of the Pediatric Asthma Program at Cambridge Health Alliance, an integrated delivery system based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, serving a broadly multicultural population.
Through its participation in the Pursuing Perfection initiative, the Alliance enhanced its already strong asthma program, creating a comprehensive Childhood Asthma Registry for its more than 1,500 young asthma patients, and implementing the Planned Care Model, which replaces the old reactive style of care with proactive asthma management. As a result, asthma-related ED visits have fallen by as much as 80 percent, and hospitalizations by up to 75 percent.
What really distinguishes the Alliance’s asthma program is the integrated patient support system that encompasses clinic, home, and school settings. The information in the Asthma Registry is made available to parents and, with their permission, other adults who could also benefit: physicians, teachers, school nurses, and a network of health providers. No matter where a child enters the health care system — at the pediatrician’s office, through the school nurse, or the ED — providers have access to his or her asthma information.
More Information
See other stories about Cambridge Health Alliance's work in Pursuing Perfection to improve asthma care and other chronic conditions:
Pursuing Perfection: School Nurses Key to Asthma Project at Cambridge Health Alliance
Pursuing Perfection: Report from Cambridge Health Alliance on Improving Asthma Care
Pursuing Perfection: The Journey to Organizational Transformation: An Interview with Dennis Keefe, CEO, Cambridge Health Alliance
Pursuing Perfection: Chronic Care and Depression at Cambridge Health Alliance
01/16/2006
