Goal: Foster coordination between community and clinical care in Massachusetts to address asthma inequities.
Objective 1: Disseminate and promote asthma management best practices that link clinical care and school health by 2026.
Strategy 1: Increase the number of evidence-based asthma education opportunities for school nurses and key school employees.
Strategy 2: Identify funding opportunities to support evidence-based asthma education.
Strategy 3: Identify and share best practices and success stories of coordinated asthma management between clinical and school teams from school systems across MA.
Strategy 4: Identify and educate key school leadership (e.g. superintendents) on the importance of coordinated school health and clinical care for successful asthma management.
Strategy 5: Continue ongoing engagement via MAAP to facilitate the sharing of best practices, collaboration among partners and elevation of success stories around the coordination of clinical care and school health.
Objective 2: Identify and promote evidence-based asthma training and education resources and best practices for providers across the clinical care team by 2026.
Strategy 1: Promote asthma education training opportunities to CHWs serving the communities of focus.
Strategy 2: Expand the capacity of APCP-supported best practice asthma education trainings to serve an increased number of CHWs.
Strategy 3: Broaden promotion of existing evidence-based training opportunities for asthma educators.
Strategy 4: Educate providers of asthma care on the availability and added benefits of asthma education provided by trained CHWs and opportunities to elevate CHWs within the asthma care team.
Strategy 5: Identify the key providers of asthma education across care settings to increase utilization of evidence-based asthma resources.
Objective 3: Reduce asthma Emergency Department (ED) visits in the 11 communities of focus by 2026.
Strategy 1: Promote adherence to guidelines-based asthma care in the primary care setting and within home visiting programs.
Strategy 2: Recommend sustainable financing by payors for asthma home visits conducted by trained asthma home visitors, including CHW’s.
Strategy 3: Identify barriers and promote culturally appropriate strategies to improve medication adherence.
Strategy 4: Promote access to and utilization of urgent care at PCP sites.
Strategy 5: Encourage primary care practices to develop enhanced communication to their patients and families that address treating acute asthma symptoms with a PCP visit.
Strategy 6: Encourage expansion of evidence-based home-visiting asthma care management programs.
Strategy 7: Recommend MassHealth and other payors cover durable medical equipment (e.g., home nebulizers, spacers, etc.) based on evidence of effectiveness rather than cost.
Strategy 8: Encourage PCP and Urgent Care hours and contact information to be added to Asthma Action Plans.
Partner Led Strategies:
Strategy 9: Advocate for sustainable financing by payors for asthma home visits conducted by trained asthma home visitors, including CHW’s.
Strategy 10: Advocate to MassHealth and other payors to cover durable medical equipment (e.g., home nebulizers, spacers, etc.) based on evidence of effectiveness rather than cost.
Objective 4: Reduce asthma related hospitalizations and repeat ED visits in the 11 communities of focus by 2026.
Strategy 1: Promote the use of evidence-based treatment protocols and most effective equipment to optimize inhaled drug delivery in the ED to reduce likelihood of hospital admission or recidivism from the ED.
Strategy 2: Recommend EDs have a mechanism to fill prescriptions for appropriate asthma medications (e.g. steroids) prior to discharge to prevent delays in care due to need to obtain medications to reduce likelihood of hospital admission or recidivism from the ED.
Strategy 3: Promote communication between primary care practices and EDs regarding patient ED visits to facilitate follow up care including next day visits to reduce likelihood of hospital admission or recidivism from the ED.
Use of the term “stakeholder”: The Asthma Prevention and Control Program has shifted away from the use of the term “stakeholder” to describe those who have an interest or concern in a particular topic due to its harmful ties to western colonialism and impact on indigenous communities. We acknowledge that at the time of publication of the full 2022-2026 Strategic Plan for Asthma in Massachusetts the term “stakeholder” was used in this document. Honoring an ongoing commitment to principals of racial equity and an ongoing evolution towards inclusivity in the language and concepts we use, future publications and materials developed by our program will continue to reflect this conscious shift towards more inclusive language.
All advocacy activities listed below will not be conducted by MA DPH or any partner organizations using state and/or federal funding.