(a)  The department shall offer public and professional education to disseminate the most current information on asthma.

(b)  The department shall assist health care organizations, such as managed care organizations, in identifying or developing effective asthma diagnosis and treatment protocols. The department shall improve clinical practice by working with experts, partnering with health care organizations, and conferring with interested constituencies.

(c)  (1)  Despite the necessity for increased information regarding asthma causation, there is also an urgent need to apply existing knowledge to reduce the burden on state resources due to asthma. Thus, the department shall administer available funds to organizations that propose promising, innovative asthma interventions that benefit persons with asthma and their families by increasing community awareness, improving patient education and asthma self-management skills, improving clinical practice, coordinating services, and developing local policies that support the prevention and control of asthma and environmental factors that can trigger asthma attacks.

(2)  The department shall ensure that the projects are scientifically based and practical, and that a range of significant asthma prevention and control issues are addressed. The projects shall address both adult and pediatric asthma populations. Projects may include, but need not be limited to, the following:

(A)  Clinical quality improvement.

(B)  Disease management.

(C)  Public and professional education, including information on asthma self-management skills and ways to reduce or eliminate allergens and irritants that exacerbate asthma, such as cockroaches, dust mites, and molds.

(D)  Mobilization of communities including local health departments, community agencies, and other organizations.

(E)  Unique exposure interventions for special or at-risk populations.

(F)  Innovative collaborations between managed care organizations, local organizations, health systems, academic institutions, voluntary health organizations, and local governments.

(G)  Reducing environmental factors that have been found to trigger asthma attacks.

(d)  The department shall promote the utilization of evidence-based asthma guidelines, such as the National Institute of Health’s National Asthma Education and Prevention Programs’s asthma guidelines, to carry out the purposes of this chapter.

(Added by Stats. 2000, Ch. 93, Sec. 24. Effective July 7, 2000.)