High Baseline ER rates and Adults/Kids

I have two questions for you:

1.) I was surprised to see the high health care utilization rates at baseline for the people enrolled in the intervention.  Did I understand correctly that 68% of people who participated in this program had visited the ER for an asthma related event in the 6 months prior to starting the program?Do you think this rate was unusually high?  Or typical of kids/adults living in public housing units with asthma?

2.) Do you think that your evaluation was equally effective for adults and children?  Would you recommend this type of model more for one group or the other?

Thanks for the great webinar!

Thanks for your great questions. The ED asthma rates we are seeing in this study are actually much lower than we have seen in previous programs. The Westside of Chicago has extremely high rates of asthma prevelence and most children have uncontrolled asthma resulting in frequent trips to the ED. We are thankful programs like this can help reduce those troublesome numbers.

I think the intervention is equally effective for children and adults with severe/ uncontrolled asthma, but maybe a shorted, less intense interveniton is better for children or adults with "controlled" asthma. There is a lot of evidence around CHW intervenitons for children with asthma and less for adults with asthma.

 

email me if you have more questions.

Thanks. Are your ED & hospital utilization numbers based on self-report, HC provider reports, or insurance claims data?