Research Studies and Data
Community Health Workers: Part of the Solution (July 2010)
Community health workers are recognized in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as important members of the health care workforce. The evidence shows that they can help improve health care access and outcomes; strengthen health care teams; and enhance quality of life for people in poor, underserved, and diverse communities. This article, published in the journal of Health Affairs, traces how two states, Massachusetts and Minnesota, initiated comprehensive policies to foster far more utilization of community health workers and, in the case of Minnesota, to make their services reimbursable under Medicaid. The authors recommend that other states follow the lead of these states, further developing the workforce of community health workers, devising appropriate regulations and credentialing, and allowing the services of these workers to be reimbursed.
Investing in Best Practices for Asthma: A Business Case for Education and Environmental Interventions (June 2010)
An increasingly robust evidence base shows widespread improvements in the health of people with asthma when primary and specialist care are supplemented by non-clinical interventions tailored to the individual. Both the research and practice-based literature show that these interventions-including in-depth asthma education, home environmental assessments, and mitigation of exposures that trigger asthma-can markedly improve patients' quality of life, and often decrease urgent medical encounters. The research literature on the economics of these interventions makes a compelling case from a business standpoint for investing in asthma education and in-home environmental interventions as key elements of a comprehensive asthma management program. Yet despite this evidence, people with asthma often do not have access to comprehensive asthma education and in-home environmental interventions, nor are services adequately paid for by insurance.
Black-White Health Disparities in the United States and Chicago: A 15-Year Progress Analysis (December 2009)
In an effort to examine national and Chicago, Illinois, progress in meeting the Healthy People 2010 goal of eliminating health disparities, the authors examined whether disparities between non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic White persons widened, narrowed, or stayed the same between 1990 and 2005. The results, published in the American Journal of Public Health, show disparities between non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic White populations widened for 6 of 15 health status indicators examined for the United States (5 significantly), whereas in Chicago the majority of disparities widened (11 of 15, 5 significantly). (Published
online ahead of print December 17, 2009: e1-e8. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2009.165407)
Are We Closing the Disparity Gap?: Small-Area Analysis of Asthma in Chicago
Disparities in asthma outcomes in the Chicago area have been observed between geographic areas and ethnic and socioeconomic groups. As efforts to close this gap have moved beyond the initial characterization of the problem to implementation of concrete programs to address these disparities, objective measures of success are essential. We present a variety of data from the Chicago area to assess whether any improvement in previously reported disparities can be demonstrated. While some process outcomes such as medication usage have improved over time, death from asthma has failed to demonstrate an equivalent improvement. More importantly, the differential in asthma mortality and hospitalization rates between African Americans and European Americans has failed to close in the years following the release of the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program asthma guidelines. (CHEST 2007; 132:858S-865S)
The State of Childhood Asthma, 1980-2005
Children and Asthma in Chicago Survey Highlights (2004)
Children and Asthma in America is a landmark survey of the current state of asthma and asthma management among children in the United States. A parallel survey of a community sample of children with asthma and children without asthma in the Chicago area provides additional insights into asthma management and its burden at the local level. Both surveys conclude that a significant number of children with asthma do not have their condition under control, falling far short of national treatment goals established by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA)
GINA's goals are to increase awareness of asthma and its public health consequences; promote identification of reasons for the increased prevalence of asthma; promote study of the association between asthma and the environment; reduce asthma morbidity and mortality; improve management of asthma; and improve availability and accessibility of effective asthma therapy.
Chicago Asthma Atlas
The Asthma Atlas provides Chicago-based community asthma groups with outcome data to be used in the fight against asthma. The Atlas provides asthma data by zip code and a directory of asthma programs in Chicago . The Asthma Atlas is a project of the University of Chicago Asthma Center and the Chicago Asthma Consortium, funded by the Otho S.A. Sprague Memorial Institute.
Asthma Hospital Discharges in Chicago
This brief report contains interpretation and analysis of asthma data from Chicago hospital discharges. Data tables for the summary sections are included. The purpose of this analysis was to draw conclusions about asthma hospitalizations across a number of factors, such as race, geography, and time, in Chicago.