Pediatric Asthma Emergency Department Use Toolkit

This toolkit presents a children's health care quality measure from the AHRQ-CMS Pediatric Quality Measures Program (PQMP). The measure has been developed by PQMP Centers of Excellence (COE) grantee, Michael D. Cabana, M.D.

The goals of this toolkit are to:

1. Provide an overview of the Pediatric Asthma Emergency Department (ED) Use measure, and
2. Explain how to develop and implement quality measurement and improvement strategies in primary care settings to reduce asthma-related ED visits.

The Pediatric Asthma Emergency Department Use measure estimates the rate of ED visits for children ages 3-21 who are being managed for identifiable asthma, using specified definitions. Asthma is associated with increased hospitalizations and ED visits, a significant portion of which may be avoided with appropriate primary care asthma management.

This toolkit includes materials to support users in:

• Understanding the definition and use of the Pediatric Asthma Emergency Department Use measure,
• Developing and implementing quality measurement and improvement strategies to reduce unnecessary pediatric asthma ED use, and
• Improving adherence to National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) guidelines for managing pediatric asthma patients.

The intended audiences for this toolkit include states, health plans, health systems, improvement partners, and provider groups with a focus on primary care delivery.

This toolkit is organized into 4 sections:

1. Overview.
2. About the Measure.
3. Key Driver Diagrams.
4. Quality Improvement Strategies.