Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital (Memphis, Tenn) last week announced its receipt of a $2.9 million Health Care Innovation Award from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to fight asthma in its local community. The grant was earmarked for the hospital’s Community Health and Well-Being division, in partnership with The University of Tennessee Health Science Center.
Le Bonheur developed Changing High-Risk Asthma in Memphis through Partnership (CHAMP), a program aimed at reducing deaths from pediatric asthma; emergency department and urgent care visits; avoidable hospitalizations; and asthma exacerbations or episodes. To accomplish these goals, CHAMP employs improved information sharing among health care providers, improved coordination of care, increased rate of asthma self-management, and a greater engagement of the community’s key stakeholders.
“The program will help us close the loop in the continuity of care these children receive after they leave Le Bonheur,” said Le Bonheur President and CEO Meri Armour. “The community-based program will also allow us to build an asthma registry for high-risk asthma patients, which we can use to study and evaluate our evidence-based treatments and new approaches to care delivery.”
