Nancy Sander greets partners from Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics and Family Health Partners.

Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics partnered with Family Health Partners (FHP), a Missouri Medicaid HMO, to test a new model of healthcare delivery to children who have asthma. At a time when many health plans are limiting patient access to medications or specialty care in an effort to control healthcare costs, the Children's Mercy model did the opposite - and both patients and the health plan benefited.

The model program, KC CAMP, emphasized well care without limiting patient access to medications, medical devices and specialty care. Not only did emergency room visits and inpatient admissions decrease, but the Medicaid HMO saved money.

For many patients, primary care physicians are the first line of defense in preventing costly emergency room visits and hospitalizations. The KC CAMP program places trained asthma educators in primary care practices to teach physicians and their staff how to diagnose asthma, educate patients and provide patients with an asthma action plan and self-management tools. Training includes the benefits of immunotherapy and highlights national guidelines on referring patients to specialists. Patient materials are available in English and Spanish.

The goal of the KC CAMP program is to change the way physicians practice asthma management and help physicians and their staff implement those changes. "They don't just hand the doctor's office a list of guidelines. They help the provider implement those guidelines and give the provider the tools to better manage this disease," says Ma'ata Touslee, R.N., M.B.A., C.C.M., Director of Health Services for Family Health Partners.

The cornerstones of KC CAMP are

• A central asthma registry to track patient outcomes.
• A standardized asthma curriculum to teach providers and their staff how to educate asthma patients.
• A Current Procedural Technology (CPT) Code to allow providers to charge for time spent educating patients.
• A plan for program sustainability.

After the success of this pilot program, Children's Mercy broadened the program to include adult asthma patients. KC CAMP is now available to other health plans in Kansas City and can be adapted for use by hospitals and health plans in other areas of the country.