Asthma Regional Council - Resources for Health Plans, Purchasers, and Policy Specialists

Our mission:

To reduce the impact of asthma across New England, through collaborations of health, housing, education, and environmental organizations with particular focus on the contribution of schools, homes, and communities to the disease and with attention to its disproportionate impact on populations at greatest risk.

Resources for Health Plans, Purchasers, and Policy Specialists

Highlighted Resources

Investing in Best Practices of Asthma: A Business Case - August 2010 Update

This report updates our first Business Case published in 2007. Two primary developments motivated the update. First, the National Asthma Education Prevention Program (NAEPP) Expert Panel, which is responsible for regularly updating the national best practice guidelines for asthma management, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Task Force on Community Preventive Services (CDC Task Force), each published major reviews—including economic evaluations—of the
research on asthma education and environmental interventions. Second, programs translating research on comprehensive asthma management into practice have proliferated. Therefore, in addition to summarizing the NAEPP and the CDC Task Force reviews, this update describes six evidence-based programs which are achieving their goals of bringing asthma under control cost-effectively.

Asthma: A Business Case for Employers and Health Care Purchasers

The report details three strategies employers can pursue to cost-effectively bring asthma under control: 1) Aligning employee health benefits with recommended best practices for asthma; 2) Supporting employees in overcoming barriers to self-management of asthma; and 3) Ensuring healthy work environments. Published by ARC and Lowell Center for Sustainable Production.

Investing in Best Practices for Asthma: A Business Case for Education and Environmental Interventions
Asthma Regional Council, 2007.

Key Research

Housing Interventions and Health Outcomes: A Review of the Evidence

by the National Center for Healthy Housing and the US CDC, 2009.

How Environmental Exposures Influence the Development and Exacerbation of Asthma.

Etzel, R.A., Pediatrics, 2003.

The Seattle-King County Healthy Homes Project: A Randomized, Controlled Trial of a Community Health Worker Intervention to Decrease Exposure to Indoor Asthma Triggers
Krieger et al. American Journal of Public Health, 2005.

Cost-effectiveness of a home-based environmental intervention for inner-city children with asthma.
Kattan et al. Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology, 2005.

A Randomized Controlled Trial of Asthma Self-management Support Comparing Clinic-Based Nurses and In-Home Community Health Workers.
Krieger et. al. Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, 2009.

Environmental management of asthma at top-ranked U.S. Managed Care Organizations.
Brugge D, Bagley J, and Hyde J. Journal of Asthma, 2003.Krieger et al. The American Journal of Public Health, 2005.

Guides and Tools for Health Plans

Approaches to Asthma Management: An Assessment of Health Insurance Plans

America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), 2005.

Asthma Education Insurance Billing Information: State and Local Guidelines
Provided by the National Asthma Educator Certification Board

Breathing Easier: Asthma Management Programs in Health Plans
AHIP, 2007

Cultivating a Successful Pediatric Asthma Initiative: A Tool Kit for Health Care Organizations
The Alliance of Community Health Plans

Implementing an Asthma Home Visit Program: A Guide to Help Health Plans Get Started
The US Environmental Protection Agency, 2005.

Improving Asthma Care for Children: Best Practices in Medicaid Managed Care
From the Center for Health Care Strategies

Sample Purchasing Specifications for Care of Individuals with Asthma
George Washington University, 2003.

Taking on Asthma: A Resource Guide for Health Insurance Plans
AHIP, 2004.

Expert Panel Report 3: Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Asthma
The National Asthma Education and Prevention Program's (NAEPP) authoritative guidelines for best practices in asthma management.

"Partners Putting Guidelines Into Action"
Guidelines Implementation Panel Report for the NAEPP's Expert Panel Report 3 - Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Asthma