Subject(s)
Adrenal Cortex Hormones/therapeutic use , Anti-Asthmatic Agents/therapeutic use , Asthma/drug therapy , Hospitalization/statistics & numerical data , Outcome Assessment, Health Care , Quality Assurance, Health Care , Adolescent , Adult , Child , Child, Preschool , Emergency Service, Hospital/statistics & numerical data , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Quality of Health Care , Reproducibility of Results , United States , Young AdultABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: A new Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) asthma quality-of-care measure designed to quantify patient adherence to asthma controller medication has been implemented. The relationship between this measure and asthma outcomes is unknown. OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between the HEDIS Medication Management for people with Asthma (MMA) measure and asthma outcomes. METHODS: Administrative data identified 30,040 patients who met HEDIS criteria for persistent asthma during 2012. These patients were classified as compliant or noncompliant with the MMA measure at the 75% and 50% threshold, respectively. The association between MMA compliance in 2012 and asthma outcomes in 2013 was determined. RESULTS: Patients who were 75% or 50% MMA compliant in 2012 showed no clinically meaningful difference in asthma-related hospitalizations, emergency department visits, or rescue inhaler dispensing in 2013 compared with those who were noncompliant. Stepwise comparison of patients who were 75% or more, 50% to 74%, and less than 50% MMA compliant showed no meaningful difference in asthma outcomes between groups. CONCLUSIONS: Compliance with the HEDIS MMA measure is not related to improvement in the asthma outcomes assessed (rescue inhaler dispensing, asthma-coded hospitalizations, or asthma-coded emergency department visits).