Adolescent With Asthma

In the worst allergy season since last year, the media declare a natural-disaster level of pollen.

As a tribally-led coalition, our goal is to find and share solutions for healthy, sustainable, and safe housing.We search for and help develop effective programs, and share our results with tribes. We call for support from our partners, including EPA, HUD, USDA, Indian Health Service, and the American Lung Association, to provide expertise, equipment or funding.

Asthma is one of the most common chronic conditions in the United States, affecting nearly 1 in 11 children, costing the United States nearly $56 billion each year in 2007. To improve health outcomes and reduce asthma-related costs, states should consider augmenting high quality medical services with self-management education and home visiting programs, according to a paper released today by the National Governors Association (NGA).

Asthma Awareness Toolkit – You can use the items in CDC’s Asthma Awareness Month Toolkit to take control of and raise awareness about asthma.

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.