Asthma Disease Management

An estimated 17 million Americans suffer from asthma, a costly disease accounting for 1.8 million emergency department visits and 10 million physician office visits annually [1]. Asthma is the most common chronic childhood disease, affecting more than 1 child in 20 and accounting for an annual loss of approximately 10 million school days per year [1]. Asthma-related hospitalization rates increased significantly during the past 2 decades even as overall hospitalization rates declined, particularly in children [2]. Further, asthma-related deaths increased 78% between 1980 and 1993 [1]. In 1998, the economic burden of asthma in the United States was estimated at $11.3 billion [1]. A number of disease management programs have been directed toward patients with asthma to improve their health status and reduce costs. Asthma disease management is a comprehensive, coordinated system of care that emphasizes prevention of exacerbations and complications and patient self-management education [3]. This article describes and presents preliminary data regarding the efficacy of Sentara Health Management’s asthma disease management program.