title: Asthma: benchmarking for quality improvement.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Linked medical and pharmacy claims can be used to identify patients with asthma and benchmark current practice standards.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a 3-year study of five independent practice association style health maintenance organizations with an annual enrollment of 870,000. More than 28,000 members were identified with claims for asthma.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The intent of this study was to benchmark current asthma practice. Before quality improvement projects can be implemented baseline data are required.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of asthma varied by geographic regions. Specialty care was associated with greater use of anti-inflammatory medications and more refills of these drugs. Refill rates for inhaled corticosteroids for all patients was low. Specialty care of asthmatic members was associated with a lower rate of emergency service events and hospitalizations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Linked medical and pharmacy claims' databases can be used to benchmark current practice performance and serve as a reference for quality improvement programs. Appropriate use of specialty care may improve asthma outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Virginia Mason Medical Center, Seattle, Washington, USA.
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Stempel
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Carlson
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Buchner
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D019985:Benchmarking; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies