Improving Asthma Control

Improving Asthma Control (IAC) is a two-year program for children (0-18 years old) with asthma built upon the successful implementation of the Best Practices in Childhood Asthma (BPCA) program. Ten contractors/community clinics were selected to improve health care provider adherence to key clinical activities recommended in the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP) Expert Panel Report 3: Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Asthma (EPR-3) by attendance in program-wide collaborative trainings and use of in-clinic continuous quality improvement (CQI) strategies.

This shared learning collaborative focuses on the development and implementation of model tools and processes that 1) improve the age-appropriate assessment and documentation of asthma control (according to domains of current impairment and future risk) at every primary care visit following the initial classification of asthma severity, and 2) improve the application of an age-appropriate stepwise approach for managing asthma according to the patient’s asthma severity and/or asthma control. In addition, the collaborative focuses on the development and implementation of trainings, tools and processes to improve the assessment and documentation of pulmonary function using office-based spirometry for the diagnosis and management of asthma for children age 5 years and older.