Improving Childhood Asthma Outcomes in the United States

Describes the structured group process that RAND Health used with an interdisciplinary committee of nationally recognized leaders in childhood asthma to arrive at the policy recommendations proposed in the main report, MR-1330-RWJ, Improving Childhood Asthma Outcomes in the United States: A Blueprint for Policy Action, by M. Lara, W. Nicholas, S. Morton, M. Vaiana, B. Genovese, and G. Rachelefsky, Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND, 2001. Describes the structured group process that RAND Health used with an interdisciplinary committee of nationally recognized leaders in childhood asthma to arrive at the policy recommendations proposed in MR-1330-RWJ, Improving Childhood Asthma Outcomes in the United States: A Blueprint for Policy Action, by M. Lara, et al., Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND, 2001. Over the course of 2000, RAND Health engaged an interdisciplinary committee of nationally recognized leaders in childhood asthma in a structured group process to arrive at the policy recommendations proposed in Improving Childhood Asthma Outcomes in the United States: A Blueprint for Policy Action, by M. Lara, W. Nicholas, S. Morton, M. Vaiana, B. Genovese, and G. Rachelefsky, Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND, MR-1330-RWJ, 2001. That report summarizes the findings of an effort funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, to o Identify a range of policy actions in both the public and private sectors that could improve childhood asthma outcomes nationwide o Select a subset of policies to create a blueprint for national policy in this area o Outline alternatives to implement these policies that build on prior efforts. This report describes the process in detail. Appendix A provides a schematic of the group process. The extensive appendices contain the essential "live" documents (lists, voting sheets, Power Point slides, Excel spreadsheets, etc.) that facilitated this process. This effort is part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Pediatric Asthma Initiative. The purpose of this initiative is to address current gaps in national childhood asthma care through clinical and nonclinical approaches to improve the management of childhood asthma. It is the first national initiative that simultaneously addresses treatment, policy, and financing issues for children with asthma at the patient, provider, and institutional levels. (MAB, 3/26/02)