Organizational attributes of practices successful at a disease management program.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the contribution of organizational factors to implementation of 3 asthma quality measures: enrollment in a disease management program, development of a written treatment plan, and prescription of severity-appropriate anti-inflammatory therapy.


METHODS
A total of 138 pediatric clinicians and 247 office staff in 13 urban clinics and 23 nonurban private practices completed questionnaires about their practice's organizational characteristics (eg, leadership, communication, perceived effectiveness, job satisfaction).


RESULTS
94% of the clinicians and 92% of the office staff completed questionnaires. When adjusted for confounders, greater practice activity and perceived effectiveness in meeting family needs were associated with higher rates of enrollment in the Easy Breathing program, whereas higher scores for 3 organizational characteristics--communication timeliness, decision authority, and job satisfaction--were associated with both higher enrollment and a greater number of written treatment plans. None of the organizational characteristics was associated with greater use of anti-inflammatory therapy.


CONCLUSIONS
Three organizational characteristics predicted 2 quality asthma measures: use of a disease management program and creation of a written asthma treatment plan. If these organizational characteristics were amenable to change, then our findings could help focus interventions in areas of effective and acceptable organizational change.
Department of Pediatrics, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT, USA. mclouti@ccmckids.org
Michelle M
MM
Cloutier
Dorothy B
DB
Wakefield
John
J
Tsimikas
Charles B
CB
Hall
Howard
H
Tennen
Kevin
K
Brazil
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D001249:Asthma / Q000628:therapy*; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003142:Communication; D003237:Connecticut; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003657:Decision Making; D019468:Disease Management; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011216:Practice Management, Medical / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011331:Private Practice; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires