Asthma Awareness Month: White Paper, Webinar and a New HEDIS Measure
May 21, 2025 · Becky Kolinski
May is Asthma Awareness Month, so we’re highlighting NCQA’s recent work and some resources to help improve quality of care for people with asthma.
Asthma is a complex, chronic disease that affects more than 24 million people in the U.S. Patients suffer from asthma exacerbations that interfere with daily activities and health-related quality of life, even though there are evidence-based best practices that could help them manage their asthma more effectively.
- 42.4% of people with asthma had at least one asthma exacerbation in 2022.
- 67.9% of children 0–5 with asthma experienced at least one asthma exacerbation in 2022.
- Patients with asthma accounted for nearly one million emergency department visits and approximately 95,000 inpatient hospital stays in 2020.
There is a critical gap between best practices for asthma care and patients’ reality. Factors such as race, socioeconomic status and place of residence can also affect patients’ experience and outcomes.
Roundtable and White Paper: Improving Outcomes for People with Asthma
To better understand the factors that can enable or inhibit high-quality asthma care, NCQA convened a diverse panel of clinicians, public/community health experts and patient advocates—the Asthma Management and Education Roundtable—with support from AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, LP.
Roundtable participants discussed three major drivers of positive asthma outcomes:
- Access to appropriate medical care. Robust, equitable insurance coverage must exist alongside a workforce trained to deliver high-quality asthma care.
- Clinical care aligned with a quality framework and strong evidence base. Health systems must provide incentives and resources that enable adherence to best practices for asthma management.
- Patient-centeredness. Patient self-management strategies and education can leverage individual preferences and capabilities to augment the care delivered.
NCQA shared findings from the roundtable in a white paper, Improving Outcomes for People with Asthma: Challenges and a Call to Action.
Here are some insights from the Roundtable participants.
“The roundtable provided an opportunity to collaborate with people from different backgrounds, different areas of the country and different lenses through which they view asthma. We all share a common goal to help our patients manage their asthma, but the path that we take to get there can vary depending on our background, so it was helpful to hear different perspectives on how we can improve.”
William Anderson, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital Colorado and University of Colorado School of Medicine
“The atmosphere was collaborative and respectful, with everyone open to sharing ideas and learning from one another. This experience reinforced the value of interdisciplinary collaboration—bringing together diverse perspectives leads to more comprehensive solutions. We explored successful programs from across the country that have enhanced patient outcomes, as well as ongoing challenges where barriers to care still exist.”
Lori Wilken, PharmD, Clinical Associate Professor, University of Illinois, Chicago Retzky College of Pharmacy; Director, University of Illinois Health Tobacco Treatment Center
“I really enjoyed the energy of a room full of passionate asthma subject matter experts and appreciated contributing as a representative of public health and a state health department. I approached the Roundtable as an opportunity to learn and connect. It was helpful to hear all the perspectives and experiences, which were predominantly medical or clinical, and then be able to give a voice to the public health perspective emphasizing the contextual issues impacting individuals, families and communities managing asthma.”
Sara Thuma, MPH, Asthma Control Program Manager, Pennsylvania Department of Health
Webinar: Asthma Measures and Care Models
On July 23, NCQA will host a webinar featuring three members of the Asthma Management and Education Roundtable who will explore practical strategies for improving asthma management through evidence-based care models, individualized treatment plans, patient education, and expanded access to a broader care team—including nurses, pharmacists and community health workers. These speakers were also featured on a panel at NCQA’s Health Innovation Summit, where they shared insights from the white paper.
Featured speakers:
- Caroline Blaum, MD, Assistant Vice President, Chronic Conditions, NCQA
- Njira Lugogo, MD, Professor of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan Health
- Tonya Winders, MBA, President and CEO, Global Allergy & Airways Patient Platform
- Wendy Wright, DNP, ANP-BC, Family Nurse Practitioner and Owner, Wright & Associates Family Healthcare
Register for the webinar here.
New Asthma Measure in HEDIS
The HEDIS MY 2026 measure set will include a new measure focused on asthma, Follow-Up After Acute Care Visits for Asthma (AAF-E). Patients with uncontrolled asthma are more likely to seek care for acute exacerbations, rather than focusing on preventive care. The new measure focuses on the patient-clinician relationship as encouraging treatment adherence and efficacy. Guiding patients toward non-acute care—and clinicians with whom they have a trusted relationship—may help improve asthma outcomes.
“Consistent communication and planning between patients, caregivers and clinicians is a strong driver of adherence to treatment,” says NCQA’s Caroline Blaum, Assistant Vice President of the Chronic Conditions and Complex Care Knowledge Center. “Our proposed HEDIS measure uses data that are readily available, and incentivizes behavior that will produce better outcomes for patients.”
Learn More
- Read the white paper, Improving Outcomes for People with Asthma: Challenges and a Call to Action.
- Register for our webinar, Improving Asthma Outcomes: Measures and Care Models.
HEDIS® is a registered trademark of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).
The Asthma roundtable, white paper and webinar were made possible with support from AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, LP. The HEDIS measure development was not funded as part of this project and was completed independently by NCQA.
