Can New Health Policies Improve Asthma Outcomes?

THE DOCTOR WEIGHS IN

What’s “new in asthma?” It’s important first to point out what is not new. Although there is not yet a cure for asthma, very effective therapies exist—and have existed for some time. Yet asthma continues to consume increasingly scarce health care resources, and to limit the lives of some 25 million Americans, including more than 7 million children. Is this changing? It is. While biomedical and clinical research continue to extend our understanding of the pathophysiology of the disease, and how to mitigate that through new therapies, what I see as most exciting are changes on other fronts: changes which have the potential to make the therapies that we have more impactful. At AAFA, we know that improving control of asthma leads to fewer emergency room visits and hospital admissions, so that payment models that transfer risk create strong incentives is to improve clinical outcomes. While asthma has not been the central focus of payment reform, it will often be in scope as payers and providers pilot new models to address common and costly chronic illness. This excerpt was taken from Dr. Cary Sennett's, CEO and President of AAFA, blog post. Click here to read more.