Last Updated: September 2018
Author: Asthma Program, Vermont Department of Health
Asthma is a complex chronic disease that affects 11% of all Vermont adults and 8% of Vermont children (2014 BRFSS). The Vermont Asthma Program, supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), works to reduce the burden of asthma through strategic partnerships, tailored interventions within highest risk target populations and geographical areas, and promoting optimal asthma care to minority populations in a culturally sensitive manner. Below are several indicators that help measure how asthma affects Vermonters: hospitalizations and emergency department visits attributed to asthma as a primary diagnosis, utilization of a current asthma action plan, and the ability to recognize and reduce environmental triggers known to exacerbate asthma symptoms. These indicators follow guideline-based care guidelines for the proper management of asthma.
Asthma is a disease that affects your lungs. It causes repeated episodes of wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness, and nighttime or early morning coughing. Asthma can be controlled by taking medicine and avoiding the triggers that can cause an attack. People with asthma can lead healthy lives, and the Vermont Department of Health is committed to helping make this possible.
The program’s goals include reducing the number of deaths, hospitalizations, emergency department visits, school days or workdays missed, and limitations on activity due to asthma. The CDC funds states, cities, school programs, and non-government organizations to help them improve surveillance of asthma, train health professionals, educate individuals with asthma and their families, and explain asthma to the public.
The Vermont Asthma Program serves Vermonters with Asthma.
The Asthma Program works to inform and support health systems on providing guideline care including ACO reporting measures & through interventions available through the program. The Program also works to expand and promote reimbursement codes for delivery of clinical and in-home asthma education. A large piece of the program is dedicated to building home visiting programs and training existing community health providers and home visiting programs to deliver guidelines based asthma education. The Program also works closely with schools and the maternal and child health department to implement systems to identify and support asthma self-management in schools. Lastly, the program identity’s and addresses barriers to care including formulary restrictions for spacers among insurers, high co-pays for inhalers.