Moving Toward Equity in Asthma Care

Moving Toward Equity in Asthma Care
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield is committed to achieving health equity in asthma outcomes with diverse populations. As part of this commitment, we offer an online training, Moving Toward Equity in Asthma Care. This course is accessible from any mobile device or computer and provides one continuing medical education credit at no cost to you. Visit www.mydiversepatients.com.

 Asthma Medication Ratio (AMR) HEDIS^® measure
The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) is also working to identify and reduce disparities in care. As part of this effort, race and ethnicity stratifications were added to the AMR HEDIS metric this year. The AMR metric measures the percentage of members 5 to 64 years of age who were identified as having persistent asthma and had a ratio of controller medications to total asthma medications of 0.5 or greater during the measurement year.

 Did you know: 

• Hispanics and African Americans with asthma are less likely to take daily controllers and are more likely to visit the ER and be hospitalized for asthma-related conditions than non-Hispanic whites? ¹
• Asian Americans are more likely to die from asthma than non-Hispanic whites?²
• Appropriate medication management for patients with asthma could reduce the need for rescue medication — as well as the costs associated with ER visits, inpatient admissions, and missed days of work or school?

 Helpful tips:  

• Ensure at least half of the medications dispensed to treat asthma are controller medications throughout the measurement period. 
• Talk to the patient about the importance of controller medication compliance, and not to use rescue medications on a regular basis, unless part of asthma action plan.
• Encourage patients to fill their prescriptions on a regular schedule rather than waiting till they are symptomatic.
• Create a written asthma action plan in language the patient understands, and schedule follow-up appointments with patients. Ask patients questions to assess asthma control, adherence to the action plan, and identify
• Utilize evidence-based asthma assessment tools to assess asthma control, adherence to the action plan, and identify triggers.
• Take the Moving Toward Equity in Asthma Care CME course at no cost for more helpful tips.

Additional resources
Also available is the Asthma & Me training. Do your patients have asthma? Show them the pathophysiology of asthma in their preferred language.

References:

1. Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America & National Pharmaceutical Council. (2005). Ethnic Disparities in the Burden and Treatment of Asthma. Retrieved from http://www.aafa.org/media/Ethnic-Disparities-Burden-Treatment-Asthma-Report.pdf
2. U.S. Department of Health & Human Service, Office of Minority Health. (2016, May 9). Asthma and Asian Americans. Retrieved August 8, 2016, from https://www.minorityhealth.hhs.gov
3. Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. (2020). Asthma Disparities in America: A Roadmap to Reducing Burden on Racial and Ethnic Minorities. Retrieved from: https://aafa.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/asthma-disparities-in-america-burden-on-racial-ethnic-minorities.pdf