Asthma initiative reduces ER visits with healthcare home visits

Clinicians at Children's Hospital in Boston developed a program called Community Asthma Initiative (CAI) in 2005. Using hospitalization and emergency department logs, 283 low-income children with asthma were identified and then enrolled. A key part of the program is a visit to the child's home by a nurse or other health care worker to make the home less likely to trigger asthma attacks. On average, each family received 1.2 home visits during the year-long program. In the year after enrolling in the program, there was a 68 percent decrease in ER visits for asthma and an 85 percent decrease in hospitalizations due to asthma.