From 1999 to 2001, staff at RAND Health worked with a panel of health experts to develop a set of policy recommendations, with implementation and funding options for each, for improving childhood asthma outcomes nationwide.

Key Results and Recommendations

• Project staff developed a Blueprint for Policy Action that calls for creation of "asthma-friendly" communities in which:
  • Children with asthma would be diagnosed quickly and would receive appropriate and ongoing treatment.
  • Health care, school and social agencies would be prepared to meet the needs of children with asthma and their families.
  • Children would be safe from physical and social environmental risks that exacerbate their condition.
• Project staff developed six policy goals and 11 policy recommendations to support this overarching objective. The policy recommendations include:
  • Improve access to and quality of asthma health care services.
  • Teach children with asthma and their families how to better manage the illness.
  • Provide coordinated case management to children at high risk for asthma.
  • Develop model health care benefit packages for essential childhood asthma services.
• Project staff published its recommendations in three RAND reports:
  • Improving Childhood Asthma Outcomes: A Blueprint for Policy Action
  • Improving Childhood Asthma Outcomes: A Blueprint for Policy Action: A Description of Group Process Methods Used to Generate Committee Recommendations
  • Research Highlights: How to Improve Childhood Asthma Outcomes: a Blueprint for Policy Action.
• Project staff also published its recommendations in the May 2002 issue of the journal, Pediatrics.

Funding
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) supported this project through a grant of $228,800.