Community Setting

As of January 1, 2014, a new Medicaid rule allows reimbursement for preventive services delivered by non-licensed providers, upon recommendation from a licensed Medicaid provider. ASTHO's website contains resources related to the new Medicaid rule, including examples of successful strategies for preventive service delivery by non-licensed providers such as Community Health Workers (CHWs), and other resources related to the adaptation, licensure, and support of CHWs.

Since 1997, the “free care” rule has stated that Medicaid will not pay for services that are offered to the general public free of charge. The rule has stood as a significant barrier for schools to receive Medicaid reimbursement for health services provided to students enrolled in Medicaid. On December 15, 2014, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a letter to State Medicaid Directors informing them of a decision to withdraw prior regulatory guidance on the free care rule. The following Q&A explains how this important reversal of Medicaid policy will impact coverage of school-based interventions for low-income children with asthma.

The prevalence of childhood asthma in the United States increased from 8.7% in 2001 to 9.5% in 2011. This increased prevalence adds to the costs incurred by state Medicaid programs. We provide state-based cost estimates of pediatric asthma emergency department (ED) visits and highlight an opportunity for states to reduce these costs through a recently changed Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) regulation.

The Asthma Awareness Patch Program was developed by the Asthma Coalition of Long Island with the collaboration of Girl Scouts of the USA and the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.Learning about the respiratory system and how we breathe is the basis of the Asthma Awareness Patch Program. Empowering girls to take charge of their health can lead to increased self-esteem and responsible decision-making.

Although secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure in the United States dropped by half between 1999-2000 and 2011-2012, one in four nonsmokers -- 58 million people -- are still exposed to SHS, according to a new Vital Signs report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Explore how our initiative to combat childhood asthma made a difference in our region, and how it lives on today.

This report, prepared by the Environmental Law Institute and the Children’s Environmental Health Network, provides an overview of how state policy addresses indoor environmental exposures in the child care setting. The report describes the state of state policy today and highlights notable examples to assist policymakers, agency officials, non-governmental organizations and associations, and others who work to advance quality child care and promote children’s health.

A new study challenges the widely held belief that inner-city children have a higher risk of asthma simply because of where they live. Race, ethnicity and income have much stronger effects on asthma risk than where children live, the Johns Hopkins Children's Center researchers reported. The investigators looked at more than 23,000 children, aged 6 to 17, across the United States and found that asthma rates were 13 percent among inner-city children and 11 percent among those in suburban or rural areas.
But that small difference vanished once other variables were factored in, according to the study published online Jan. 20 in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
Poverty increased the risk of asthma, as did being from certain racial/ethnic groups. Asthma rates were 20 percent for Puerto Ricans, 17 percent for blacks, 10 percent for whites, 9 percent for other Hispanics, and 8 percent for Asians, the study found.

Material educativo que ayuda a familias con alergias y asma a eliminar los alérgenos que causan síntomas al interior del hogar, la escuela o en os lugares donde el niño juega.

Wellapets is an educational virtual pet game for phones and tablets which teaches and motivates kids ages 6-11 to manage asthma by caring for a lovable pet that also has asthma. Wellapets is created by LifeGuard Games in Boston with pediatricians and other clinicians in the area.