Community-based care coordination: practical applications for childhood asthma.

Care coordination programs have been used to address chronic illnesses, including childhood asthma, but primarily via practice-based models. An alternative approach employs community-based care coordinators who bridge gaps between families, health care providers, and support services. Merck Childhood Asthma Network, Inc.

Outcomes from a cross-site evaluation of a comprehensive pediatric asthma initiative incorporating translation of evidence-based interventions.

This article reports on an evaluation of the Merck Childhood Asthma Network, Inc. (MCAN) initiative using pooled cross-site data on patient-reported outcomes pre- and postintervention to quantify the changes experienced by children in five program sites supported by the network. The results show a consistent pattern of improvement across all measured outcomes, including symptoms, hospital and emergency department use, school absences, and caregiver confidence.