"Pay for Success" Financing and Home-Based Multicomponent Childhood Asthma Interventions: Modeling Results From the Detroit Medicaid Population

Community Interventions for Childhood Asthma ED Visits and Hospitalizations: A Systematic Review

A systematic review of interventions in community environments found significant reductions in childhood asthma exacerbations leading to emergency department visits and hospitalizations.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Structural and social determinants of childhood asthma inequities manifest within geographic communities that are often segregated. Childhood asthma disproportionately affects Black, Hispanic, and low-income populations. Community interventions have the potential to improve inequities in emergency healthcare. This systematic review was conducted to assess the effectiveness of childhood asthma community interventions and provide a conceptual model to inform implementation of future community interventions.

METHODS

Publications from PubMed, ScienceDirect, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and hand searched references were examined from 2010 to 2021. Community intervention studies among children with asthma were included. Main outcomes were emergency department visits and hospitalizations. Community interventions exclusively focusing on schools or hospitals were excluded. Two reviewers independently assessed eligibility for final inclusion. Emergency healthcare findings were extracted in addition to co-benefits (eg, fewer missed school days and caregiver workdays).

RESULTS

Out of 1856 records, 26 publications met the inclusion criteria. Community interventions were categorized by care coordination (n = 8), policy and environmental changes (eg, smoke-free legislature, traffic reduction models, and green housing) (n = 8), home-based (n = 6), and community-based health services (n = 4). Selected studies indicated that community interventions significantly reduced childhood asthma emergency department visits and hospitalizations through increased caregiver self-efficacy, home environmental trigger reduction, and increased access to healthcare. Because of heterogeneity among studies, we were unable to conduct a meta-analysis.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings show significant associations between community interventions and the reduction of emergency healthcare, suggesting a protective effect for severe cases of childhood asthma.

Use of social impact bonds in financing health systems responses to non-communicable diseases: scoping review

There is an interest to understand how social impact bonds (SIBs), a type of innovative financing instrument used in impact investment, can be used to finance the prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). This is the first scoping review that explores the evidence of SIBs for NCDs and their key characteristics and performance. The review used both published and grey literature from eight databases (MEDLINE, NCBI, Elsevier, Cochrane Library, Google, Google Scholar, WHO publications and OECD iLibrary). A total of 83 studies and articles were eligible for inclusion, identifying 11 SIBs implemented in eight countries. The shared characteristics of the SIBs used for NCDs were impact investment companies as investors, local governments as outcome payers, not-for-profit service providers and an average US$2 015 456 private initial investment. The review revealed a lack of empirical evidence on SIBs for NCDs. Conflict of interest and lack of public disclosure were common issues in both the published and grey literature on SIBs. Furthermore, only three SIBs implemented for financing NCDs were meeting all their target outcomes. The common characteristics of the SIBs meeting their target outcomes were evidence-based interventions, multiple service providers and an intermediated structure. Overall, there is a need for more high-quality studies, particularly economic evaluations and qualitative studies on the benefits to target populations, and greater transparency from the private sector, in order to ensure improved SIBs for preventing NCDs.

Outcomes from a pilot patient-centered hospital-to-home transition program for children hospitalized with asthma

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate a multi-component hospital-to-home (H2H) transition program for children hospitalized with an asthma exacerbation.

METHODS

A pilot prospective randomized clinical trial of guideline-based asthma care with and without a patient-centered multi-component H2H program among children enrolled in K-8^th grade on Medicaid hospitalized for an asthma exacerbation. H2H program includes 5 components: medications in-hand at discharge, school-based asthma therapy (SBAT) for controller medications, referral for home trigger assessments, communication with the primary care provider (PCP), and patient navigator support. Primary outcomes included feasibility and acceptability. Secondary outcomes included healthcare utilization, asthma morbidity, and caregiver quality of life.

RESULTS

A total of 32 children were enrolled and randomized. Feasibility outcomes in the intervention group included: medications in-hand at discharge (100%); SBAT for controller medication initiated (100%); home visit referrals made (100%) and home visits completed within 4 weeks of discharge (44%); PCP communication (100%); patient navigator communication at 3 days (81.3%) and 14 days (46.7%). Acceptability outcomes in the intervention group included: 87.5% of families continued SBAT, and 87.5% of families reported it was extremely helpful to have the home visit referral. Adjusting for baseline differences in age, asthma severity and control, there was no significant difference in healthcare utilization outcomes.

CONCLUSION

These pilot data suggest that comprehensive care coordination initiated during the inpatient stay is feasible and acceptable. A larger trial is justified to determine if the intervention may reduce healthcare utilization for urban, minority children with asthma.