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Improved clinician access, private insurance reduced asthma exacerbations
Children with access to a medical home were less likely to require readmission to the hospital for their asthma, according to a study published online.
In contrast, how well caregivers rated other aspects of the primary care relationship, such as how well the doctor knew the child, how well the doctor communicated, and how long the doctor has been the primary care provider did not affect how likely a child was to be readmitted.
Katherine A. Auger, MD, MSc, of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program, and the departments of pediatrics and communicable diseases and internal medicine, University of Michigan, and colleagues reported data on 601 children aged 1 to 16 years, who were seen at an area hospital for an acute asthma flare-up. The hospital captures more than 85% of all asthma admissions in the surrounding eight counties.
Katherine A. Auger
The researchers asked parents or guardians to complete a survey that measured medical home access and other factors.
“Only children with lowest access [to a medical home] had a statistically increased readmission risk compared with children with the best access,” the researchers concluded. “Subgroup analysis revealed that children with private insurance and good access had the lowest rates of readmission.”
Auger and colleagues noted some study limitations, specifically, the observational study design and that the study was performed at a tertiary care children’s hospital.
“This study highlights how important it is for caregivers to perceive they can receive help from their primary care providers,” Auger told Infectious Diseases in Children. “If they know they can receive advice or been seen urgently, then their children with asthma are not as likely to return to the hospital.”
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
Katherine A. Auger, MD, MSc, can be reached at kauger@med.umich.edu.
