|
|
|
2004 Exemplary Practice Program - Asthma Award Winner
QualChoice - Cleveland, Ohio: Knowledge and New Opportunities for Wellness Asthma Program
In 1999, QualChoice implemented the Knowledge and New Opportunities for Wellness (KNOW) Asthma Program, a comprehensive disease management program designed to help members with asthma gain the knowledge, skills, and support necessary to feel and function their best every day. The program involves interventions directed at both the member and the practitioner, and is unique in that it is available to all QualChoice members who have asthma, regardless of a member's age or benefit plan in which they are enrolled. Annual participation rates of members who are offered enrollment in the program and opt to participate range from 95 percent to 99 percent. The KNOW Program formed an alliance with the Cleveland Municipal School System to enroll children with asthma into an asthma education program during school hours. Another intervention that aims to improve medication compliance allows parents to order prescriptions for free same-day or overnight home delivery of medication. Interventions for practitioners include the use of a common electronic medical record that supplies practitioners with patient-specific treatment improvement suggestions. As a result of this program, QualChoice members with a primary diagnosis of asthma have seen reductions in emergency department visits and inpatient admissions, and documented increases in primary care physician referrals to specialists for patients who had an inpatient or emergency department visit.
|
