Asthma: benchmarking for quality improvement

Background: Linked medical and pharmacy claims can be used to identify patients with asthma and benchmark current practice standards. Method: This was a 3-year study of five independent practice association style health maintenance organizations with an annual enrollment of 870,000, More than 28,000 members were identified with claims for asthma. Objective: The intent of this study was to benchmark current asthma practice. Before quality improvement projects can be implemented baseline data are required. Results: The prevalence of asthma varied by geographic regions. Specialty care was associated with greater use of anti-inflammatory medications and more refills of these drugs, Refill rates for inhaled corticosteroids for all patients was low. Specialty care of asthmatic members was associated with a lower rate of emergency service events and hospitalizations. Conclusions: Linked medical and pharmacy claims' databases can be used to benchmark current practice performance and serve as a reference for quality improvement programs. Appropriate use of specialty care may improve asthma outcomes.