Clinics Educate Families on Managing Children’s Asthma
The Best Practices in Childhood Asthma program provides state funding to clinics throughout California to educate families on how to better manage their children's asthma, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
The program is offered in 21 facilities statewide and serves about 152 families with asthmatic children. Asthma is one of the leading causes of emergency department and hospital visits, as well as school absences.
The program began in May 2006. Data from the program will be used in a study on the care of childhood asthma at UC-San Francisco.
At least one of the clinics to offer the management program, Vista Community Clinic, also offers Asthma Treatment Services, a program funded by Kaiser Permanente.
The treatment program allows four no-cost physician visits annually and some medications for underinsured and uninsured children with asthma, while the clinic helps families enroll in public insurance programs such as Medi-Cal or Healthy Families, California's version of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (Sheshadri, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6/14)