West Virginia Asthma EXHALE Project - The purpose of this project will be to 1. implement EXHALE strategies for populations with high asthma prevalence, focusing specifically on children aged birth to 17, while also to 2. improve organizational infrastructure to advance health equity and sustainability for systems supporting asthma education and care, both with an aim of reducing asthma-related emergency department visits, hospitalizations, mortality and disparities. This will be accomplished through the strategic use of “data to action” with a reinvigoration of asthma surveillance as required by the NOFO, as well as expansion to new data sources in partnership with key stakeholders and ongoing project evaluation. Prevention activities will focus on care coordination across systems, as well as education, outreach, and policy development and/or alignment supported by a state asthma coalition. Should this proposal be funded, administration of this proposed work will be the responsibility of the Office of Maternal, Child and Family Health (OMCFH), West Virginia’s State Title V Agency (Maternal and Child Health/MCH), as organized in the West Virginia Department of Health, Bureau for Public Health. Multi-sector collaborations and strong partnerships between the OMCFH and the: West Virginia University Medicine Children’s Hospital; West Virginia Bureau of Medical Services (e.g., WV Medicaid State Agency); West Virginia Primary Care Association; West Virginia Office of Emergency Medical Services; West Virginia Health Statistics Center; West Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner; West Virginia Perinatal Partnership; West Virginia Chapter of the American Lung Association; West Virginia Division of Health Promotion and Chronic Disease; West Virginia Division of Tobacco Prevention, and the West Virginia Society for Respiratory Care will enable this project to drive the following state-level outcomes. Short-term: • Increased implementation of selected EXHALE strategies in identified settings (Strategy 1) • Increased linkages to community resources to address drivers of health inequity (Strategies 1 and 2) • Increased use of surveillance and evaluation data to drive program improvement (Strategy 2) • Enhanced partnerships, including demonstrated expansion of at least one new strategic partnership representing a focus population (Strategy 2) Intermediate: • Increased access to EXHALE interventions for people with uncontrolled asthma (Strategy 1 and 2) • Reduced impact on the identified driver of health inequity for asthma control among populations with highest risk (Strategy 1 and 2) Long-term: • Increased coordination of care across settings (Strategy 1) • Reduced exposure to environmental asthma triggers (Strategy 1) • Improved sustainability of results-based health equity partnerships (Strategy 2) • Increased policies and plans enacted and evaluated to address drivers of asthma control. • Reduced asthma-related emergency department visits and hospitalizations.
