UMass Memorial Health Care Receives National Award for Pediatric Asthma Program
Sunday, June 19, 2016
UMass Memorial
UMass was awarded a 2016 Gage Award for Population Health by America's Essential Hospitals.
“UMass Memorial Health Care shows how essential hospitals reach into their communities—into schools and homes—to deliver care where and when it can have the greatest impact,” said America’s Essential Hospitals President and CEO Bruce Siegel, MD, MPH.
In 2014, UMass Memorial Children's Medical Center expanded a pilot program for children with poorly controlled asthma. Under the program, when a clinician or school nurse identifies a child as high risk asthmatic, a specially trained community health worker who works as part of the clinical team, conducts home visits to address asthma triggers and provides basic education to improve medication adherence.
The community health worker also connects the family with other needed resources for housing remediation and community legal aid.
“Asthma is a leading chronic illness among children and adolescents in the U.S. and is a leading cause of kids being absent from school. An innovative collaboration among the pediatric pulmonology team, parents, school nurses and others is the reason for the success of this population health program in Worcester. I am very proud of the entire team for this important outreach to the community," said Eric Dickson, MD, president and CEO of UMass Memorial Health Care.
Asthma
As of June 1, 2016, a total of 302 home visits had been conducted for 133 high risk children. A total of 48 homes had also received legal aid to work with landlords to emergency department visits among 64 pediatric patients who received asthma medications at school declined from 93 visits to 37, and absenteeism among nine of those children fell from 127 total days missed to 78.
Gage Awards
The Gage Awards honor and share successful and creative programs that improve patient care and meet community news. The award for Population Health recognizes activities that improve delivery, access, or value for specific populations in the recipient's community and as a result, improve health outcomes.
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