The five-part plan aims to reduce wildfire-related health risks, particularly for those with COPD and asthma, using a population health-based approach.


RT’s Three Key Takeaways: 

  1. Population Health Approach: The University of California, Davis Health developed a five-part action plan using a population health approach to identify and mitigate wildfire-related health risks, particularly for those with chronic respiratory conditions like COPD and asthma.
  2. Targeted Interventions: The plan includes identifying at-risk populations, assembling multidisciplinary care teams, leveraging public health data for risk stratification, and creating tailored care pathways to reduce the impact of wildfire smoke on vulnerable communities.
  3. Proactive Health Measures: The plan focuses on proactive measures, providing resources and support to high-risk patients before and during wildfire events rather than responding only after health issues arise.

Communities impacted by increased wildfire activity and smoke can use a population health-based action plan to help alleviate health risks, particularly for those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma, according to a new perspective article published in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases: Journal of the COPD Foundation.

This new perspective article examined the five-part Population Health Approach enacted by the University of California, Davis Health (UCDH). UCDH is located at the epicenter of one of California’s largest wildfires, and the state’s fire season currently lasts up to six months of the year.

“Air pollutants from wildfires negatively affect everyone and are particularly dangerous for those with respiratory diseases like COPD and asthma as the pollutants increase lung inflammation,” says Reshma Gupta, MD, MSHPM, chief of population health and accountable care at UCDH and co-author of the study, in a release. “As the regional academic center for Northern California, our team routinely sees the negative health outcomes of wildfire smoke. This approach uses new technologies and population health methods to identify those at risk of wildfire smoke-induced health complications and to put interventions in place to mitigate the negative impact of poor air quality on the community.”

Population Health-based Action Plan

The five-part approach includes:

  1. Identify clinically at-risk and underserved patient populations using well-validated, condition-targeted registries;
  2. Assemble multidisciplinary care teams to understand the needs of these communities and patients;
  3. Create custom analytics leveraging public health data to stratify wildfire risk;
  4. Develop care pathways by disease, risk of exposure, and health care access; and
  5. Identify outcome measures tailored to interventions with a commitment to continuous, iterative improvement efforts.

“Over many years, we watched the increasingly frequent and significant impact of wildfires on the patients in our COPD clinic including exacerbations and impaired access to medications. We wanted to do more than provide treatment after the fact,” says Brooks Kuhn, MD, Co-director of UCDH’s Comprehensive COPD Clinic, medical director of UCDH’s Department of Respiratory Care, and co-author of the study, in a release. “Through collaboration with our Population Health team, we built resources—and systems to deliver them at the right time—to support and educate high-risk patients, such as those with COPD and asthma, before and during wildfires, not after.”

Gupta adds in a release, “This population health-based approach not only helps us lessen the negative impact of wildfire smoke on those with COPD or asthma but also increases our ability to identify those at high risk of developing these respiratory diseases. Much of the data we use in our approach comes from detailed air quality and wildfire maps throughout the United States, so other health care teams across the county could adopt a similar strategy. Leveraging this data will allow us to help reduce the impact of poor air quality and improve the health of those in our community.”

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