Evaluation of a medicaid asthma disease management program.

This study evaluates 1-year outcomes of an asthma disease management program implemented in an Oregon Medicaid population. A non-randomized pre-post study, a matched case-control study, and a "programmatic effects" analysis were conducted. Compared to matched controls, the treatment cohort had significantly fewer emergency room visits per thousand (7 vs. 28, P < 0.001) and higher office visits per thousand (57 vs. 7, P < 0.0001) but no significant difference in hospital admission rates. The programmatic effects model identified the participants' initial severity levels and the number of various communications they received as the most important variables in explaining the change in asthma severity from baseline to 12 months. These findings are supportive of the DM design, which is to reduce acute services by improving coordination of care between patients and their providers. Additionally, it appears that there is a close association between the number of patient contacts and their subsequent change in health status.