Experts Announce Recommendations to Address Historically High Levels of Asthma in Children and Dramatically Higher Rates of Adverse Outcomes in Underserved Communities

Washington, D.C., December 14, 2006 – A national panel of experts took steps today to close the treatment gaps for children with asthma, the most common chronic disease among children in the United States, which currently remains at historically high levels.  These new recommendations were announced at a conference convened by the Merck Childhood Asthma Network, Inc. (MCAN), State of Childhood Asthma & Future Directions: Implementing Best Practices, which took place December 13-14, 2006, in Washington, DC.

“The prevalence of childhood asthma in the United States remains at unacceptable high levels,” said Dr. Floyd J. Malveaux, Executive Director of MCAN and former Dean of the College of Medicine at Howard University.  “Despite the resources that currently exist, overwhelming disparities have continued to grow, particularly in underserved communities across the United States.  Moving forward, we need to apply what we know about the best practices in treating this disease to reduce the burden of this condition in all communities.  It is our hope that the outcomes of this conference will serve as a catalyst for action.”

Today’s conference convened a national panel of experts and thought leaders from multiple disciplines across the United States to identify, discuss and recommend implementation strategies for best practices in research, policy, management, and prevention that will begin to close the gap between recommended and actual childhood asthma management.  Specific findings and recommendations included:

• General Recommendation – Encourage the federal agencies to develop a coordinated asthma research strategy across all agencies.
• Share Community Data – Develop a national network for local asthma surveillance to gather, evaluate, and disseminate asthma information (e.g., incidence, prevalence, cost, morbidity, mortality, SES and ethnicity) to key community audiences – policy makers, healthcare professionals, researchers, communities, families and their children.
• Develop Educational Tools –  Engage and equip asthma care team with tools that provide them with the knowledge, skills and resources to effectively advise patients about environmental triggers including smoking cessation, allergen mitigation, and public education classes for families.
• Create a National Movement – Galvanize a national children’s asthma movement focusing on key policy issues and barriers to quality care. This leadership coalition will be charged with establishing strategies for:

-Promoting and implementing the adoption of the revised National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP) guidelines scheduled for release in 2007.
- Identifying data on the cost-effectiveness and return on investment of quality initiatives and best practices.
- Developing a repository of best practices and quality information.
- Protecting the program that provides early periodic screening, detection and treatment for children, which is critical to help the most vulnerable children.
- Utilize social marketing strategies to convey important asthma messages to key audiences and general public.

In addition, work with CMS to assess best practices in Medicaid and S-CHIP and promote best practices across the country.  This includes evaluation of reimbursement strategies to ensure that those who are most at need receive access to quality care.

• Implement Known Effective Strategies – Improve quality care for all children with asthma by targeting key influentials such as CEOs of health plans, MCO managers, community-based organizations and other public and private reimbursers of care.   These influentials should invest resources in evidence-based community and individual interventions and implement tailored intervention strategies that focus on individualized risks.

“We face a major challenge and opportunity to address this urgent public heath issue, and the recommendations from this conference are an important step in addressing some of the gaps and opportunities in the management of asthma in children,” said Dr. Nicole Lurie, Senior Natural Scientist and Professor of Policy Analysis at The RAND Corporation.  “The burden of childhood asthma is a major public health problem.  It is our hope that these recommendations will help eliminate the disparities in childhood asthma and reduce the asthma-related burdens experienced by these children and their families.”