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Improving Asthma Care for
Children Affinity’s Experience
Asthma is the most common chronic condition confronting
children, with the prevalence in New York City far
exceeding national rates. Supported by a grant from the
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Affinity Health Plan
sought to address childhood asthma through a
collaborative effort with network physicians. Affinity’s
approach provided patients and clinicians with knowledge
and tools to better manage asthma, thus reducing the
negative impact of this condition. Through early
identification, state-of-the-art pediatric asthma
treatment methods, and community and home-based family
education, Affinity aimed to change the asthma treatment
paradigm from an acute care episodic model to a chronic
disease care model. Project efforts reduced asthma
emergency room and inpatient visits, and improved early
identification and outreach of Members with
asthma—producing a significant return on investment.
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about this Making a World of Difference Initiative
Lead Screening Initiative
Affinity’s lead screening initiative sought to raise
lead screening rates for children ages six months to six
years in targeted, high-risk communities in New York
City. A high-risk community was defined by an area that
has low lead screening rates for children relative to
the city-wide average or a high rate of elevated blood
lead levels. To increase lead testing rates in young
children, Affinity’s initiatives focused on identifying
and recruiting Affinity primary care providers in
high-risk neighborhoods to perform lead screening in
their offices. Affinity sought to raise lead screening
rates for entire communities, regardless of whether
children at provider sites were Affinity Members.
Additionally, Affinity conducted lead screening at
street events in high-risk neighborhoods. Affinity’s
lead screening events mainly focused on Brooklyn and
Queens counties where rates of children under age six
tested for lead poisoning were low, rates of blood lead
levels were high and / or there was a high density of
older housing developments.
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about this Making a World of Difference Initiative |
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