Recorded presentation

Geralyn Lara Soliz, BSN, State Health Programs/Health Care Services, Health Net of California, Inc., 21281 Burbank Blvd., Woodland Hills, CA 91367, (818) 676-6811, geralyn.l.soliz@health.net, Nancy Wongvipat, MPH, State Health Programs, Health Education Department, Health Net of California, Inc., 1055 E. Colorado Blvd. Suite 300, Pasadena, CA 91106, David M. Bodick, MPH, State Health Programs/Health Education Department, Health Net of California, Inc., 11971 Foundation Place, Rancho Cordova, CA 95670, Steve J. Owh, MPH, State Health Programs, Quality Improvement, Health Net of California, Inc., 21281 Burbank Blvd., Woodland Hills, CA 91367, and Bruce Chernof, MD, FACP, State Health Programs, Health Net of California, Inc., 21281 Burbank Blvd, Woodland Hills, CA 91367.

Asthma is one of the most common diseases in the United States and a common condition among Health Net’s Medi-Cal member population. Asthma and related pulmonary conditions are consistently among the ten most frequent admitting diagnoses and a common cause of emergency room utilization. Health Net arranges health care for more than 625,000 Medi-Cal members of whom 12,500 have asthma that either require medications or has resulted in inpatient or emergency room utilization. Based on these identified needs, Health Net developed Asthma – Be in Charge!^sm, an asthma disease management program tailored to the specific needs of Medi-Cal members, modeled from the Center for Health Care Strategies’ (CHCS) Best Clinical and Administrative Practices (BCAP) program. Asthmatic members are stratified into risk categories with stratified educational interventions increasing in intensity based on increasing risk and an integrated system of interventions which includes member and provider education, internal and external collaboration and medical management as core ingredients to achieving successful outcomes. This multi-level intervention initiative is a disease management program implemented to test program effectiveness and the feasibility of implementing such a model in a Medicaid Managed Care setting. Processes of program development, evaluation measures such as inpatient and outpatient metrics, appropriate use of controlling agents vs. rescue agents, and missed days of school and work, transportability and applicability of lessons learned will be discussed. Effectiveness of intervention components by risk stratification will also evaluated and discussed.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the advantages and opportunities of utilizing specific intervention components in implementing an asthma program in a managed care setting.
• Identify the key steps needed for effective asthma program development.
• Assess the feasibility of a multi-level intervention approach to implementing an asthma program in their settings.

Keywords: Asthma, Disease Management

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation