Community health workers in home visits and asthma outcomes

Background: The Community Asthma Initiative (CAI) was included in the New England Asthma Innovations Collaborative, which received a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation grant. Under this grant, CAI transitioned from a mixed community health worker and nurse model to a nurse-supervised community health worker model. CMS limited enrollment to patients with Medicaid and encouraged 3 home visits per family. Methods: A total of 389 patients enrolled under the CMS grant at Boston Children’s Hospital from 2013 to 2015 (CMS group) were compared with 733 CAI patients with Medicaid enrolled from 2005 to 2012 (comparison group). Changes in 5 asthma-related measures (emergency department visits, hospitalizations, physical activity limitations, missed school days, and parent and/or guardian missed workdays) were compared between baseline and 6 and 12 months postenrollment. Measures were analyzed as dichotomous variables using logistic regression. Numbers of occurrences were analyzed as continuous variables. Changes in quality of life (QoL) among the CMS group were examined through a 13-question survey with activity and emotional health subscales. Results: Although patients in both groups exhibited improvement in all measures, the CMS group had greater odds of decreased hospitalizations (odds ratio 3.13 [95% confidence interval 1.49–6.59]), missed school days (1.91 [1.09–3.36]), and parent and/or guardian missed workdays (2.72 [1.15–6.41]) compared to the comparison group. Twelve months postenrollment, the CMS group experienced improvement in all QoL questions and subscales (all P values <.01). Conclusions: The CMS group showed improved outcomes for hospitalizations and missed school and workdays compared to the comparison group. The CMS group also exhibited significant improvement in QoL.