Podcast Series: Asthma Community Network – Conversations for Advancing Action
This podcast series explores best practices for reducing the impact of asthma, especially in underserved communities. Hear from people who have successfully developed asthma management programs that have improved health outcomes in their communities. Learn about their effective health delivery systems; strategies for addressing environmental triggers; key partnerships; and the tools and resources they use to achieve outstanding results.
Episode 15—It Takes a Village: Mobilizing Community Health Workers to Engage a Community
In this episode, Jessica Ramsay and Kim Artis explain the best practices that led to the Sinai Urban Health Institute’s community health worker program’s success and discuss highlights of the study. This includes the importance of proper training and support for community health workers before, during, and after they deliver in-home asthma care services. Join us for an in-depth look at how collaborative partnerships, thorough monitoring and evaluation practices, and full engagement with the community can be leveraged to address asthma disparities.
Previous Episodes
The first few days of school are an exciting time for children and parents. They also can be a time of anxiety if your child has asthma or allergies. In this episode, Shirley Schantz (Director of Nursing Education at the National Association of School Nurses) and Diane Rhodes (Asthma Awareness Education Program and Assistant Director of Health Services at North East Independent School District) explain how environmental triggers in schools can exacerbate asthma symptoms among students and staff. Both speakers will provide cost-effective ideas for measuring and mitigating triggers to improve indoor air quality (IAQ) and health in schools.
The Massachusetts Strategic Plan for Asthma is the first state asthma plan in the nation to address how primary prevention can reduce the onset of asthma. This Strategic Plan outlines goals and funding mechanisms to promote partnerships and services that ensure healthy populations stay that way: healthy and asthma-free.
In this episode, Polly Hoppin (Research Professor, University of Massachusetts Lowell and Program Director for Environmental Health, Lowell Center for Sustainable Production) and Ted Schettler (Science Director of the Science and Environmental Health Network) explain their work on primary prevention of asthma and describe how Massachusetts became the first state to pursue primary prevention of asthma in its state strategic plan.
In this episode, Polly Hoppin (Research Professor, University of Massachusetts Lowell and Program Director for Environmental Health, Lowell Center for Sustainable Production) and Ted Schettler (Science Director of the Science and Environmental Health Network) explain their work on primary prevention of asthma and describe how Massachusetts became the first state to pursue primary prevention of asthma in its state strategic plan.
In this episode, Ruth Ann Norton, President and CEO of the Green & Healthy Homes Initiative, explains her organization’s experience with social impact financing for asthma. She says, “Asthma is one of the best opportunities to have a real and true successful outcome in terms of repayment and actual change in policy and impact to communities under the Pay for Success model.” Learn what you can do to prepare your program for this type of financing.
In Episode 9, we heard Kevin Kennedy describe the key steps his program is taking to prepare for reimbursement for home visitation and assessment services. In this episode, Mr. Kennedy shares his vision and experience in establishing a network of community health workers (CHWs) across Kansas and Missouri to provide programs with easy access to certified CHWs and deliver improved, cost-effective asthma care. Learn about Mr. Kennedy’s process for obtaining buy-in from Medicaid, and the important role this Network will play when a reimbursement model is established in Kansas and Missouri.
Weatherization Plus Health programs enable collaboration among local providers of energy, health, and safety services to low–income families. The results include providing residents access to comprehensive solutions to their housing problems. In this podcast episode, Mr. Davies and Ms. Paton describe their program that addresses asthma triggers in low-income housing. Learn about the roles of the Healthy Homes coordinator and the Weatherization auditor and their effective partnership. Hear the key steps for establishing partnerships and delivering an effective weatherization plus health program in your community.
In Episode 8, we heard CMS share their insights on the new Medicaid reimbursement provision for non-medical providers delivering preventive care services. In this episode, now hear Kevin Kennedy describe the key steps his program is taking to prepare for reimbursement for home visitation and assessment services and how they are engaging with two state Medicaid offices.
This is the State Plan Amendment (SPA) under which Multnomah County Environmental Health's Targeted Case Management—Healthy Homes Program receives reimbursement through Oregon's Medicaid program. As part of the process involved in the submission of this SPA, the state of Oregon submitted a waiver to CMS to waive certain Federal requirements, including the ability to reimburse community health workers for in-home asthma visits.
WIN for Asthma, an award-winning asthma management program, engages Community Health Workers to offer comprehensive asthma education through home visits, a home environmental assessment, referrals for clinical and social services, and to also provide on-going support. Among program graduates, hospitalizations have decreased by 65 percent, emergency department visits decreased by 54 percent, and nearly 100 percent of caregivers report feeling in-control of their child’s asthma. WIN for Asthma has successfully leveraged their programmatic success to help ensure program sustainability. Listen to two speakers from WIN for Asthma, who share their experience applying for the National Environmental Leadership Award in Asthma Management and the impact it had on their program.
Group visits, or shared medical appointments, are a growing trend in chronic disease management. They can be an effective and cost-efficient way to teach self management, deliver comprehensive education and address some of the linguistic and cultural challenges seen in the doctor’s office. Lois Wessel shares her thoughts on how group visits can be used to improve asthma self-management.
Assessing and controlling environmental triggers is an important step in managing asthma. Dr. Jay Portnoy explains how his hospital effectively integrates home environmental assessments into patient care and shares his perspective on the future impact of this preventative approach to health care delivery.
Learn about how health information technology (health IT) can improve access to affordable health care and asthma management. This episode explores health IT as a prime method of communication to engage patients in underserved communities. Two representatives from the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved describe the benefits of using Health IT, growing trends in the industry and provide examples of new technologies available to clinicians and patients.
This episode highlights the vital role of a community health worker (CHW) in serving populations with the largest disparities in asthma outcomes. A mother, an asthma program manager and a CHW describe the most important gaps that are bridged between home and clinic settings when a CHW is involved.
This episode features a community asthma program that receives third-party payer reimbursement for its asthma services. Home visits are the foundation of its success. Listen for tips on using evaluation data to demonstrate your program’s value and cost effectiveness.
Hear about evaluation methods that systematically improve and account for public health actions and outcomes. This episode explores how data and measurable results can be used to demonstrate value, and introduces the six key steps in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Framework for Program Evaluation.
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