University of Michigan Health System (UMHS)
The University of Michigan Health System (UMHS) is a non-profit health care provider serving 12,214 adults and children with asthma in Southeastern Michigan. Since 2005, the UMHS Quality Improvement Steering Committee, a group of multidisciplinary volunteers, has guided improvements in asthma care across the health system. UMHS provides specific, population-based programs for high-risk asthma populations and in-home asthma education through the Michigan Visiting Nurses Asthma Home Environmental Assessment Program. Web-based, standardized NHLBI-compatible guidelines are available to all providers, including standardized asthma action plans and education templates. A comprehensive, validated, all-payer database of asthma patients helps UMHS identify areas of need for targeting interventions and assessing outcomes. As a result of these programs, UMHS achieved a 50 percent decrease in asthma-related hospitalizations among participants in the Children’s Asthma Wellness Program from July 2005 to June 2007. Between June 2006 and June 2007, participants in the home assessment program had a 60 percent decline in ED visits and an 85 percent decrease in hospitalizations.