Increase access to prevention-oriented services within health care, and advance workforce development for asthma professionals.

Prevention plays a fundamental role in asthma management. The National Clinical Guidelines highlight the importance of education and environmental control measures to avoid or eliminate factors that contribute to asthma onset and severity. Additionally, there are many best and promising practices supported by robust literature. Yet prevention-oriented services are not systematically accessible to the low-income communities and communities of color who need them most.

RAMP advocates for sustainable financing to support the integration of prevention-oriented services into the health care system, focusing on MediCal given the disproportionate impact of asthma on low-income communities. RAMP also builds the capacity of a diverse asthma workforce to implement a comprehensive approach to asthma management and prevention. Efforts include building the capacity of: Community Health Workers and others to conduct asthma home visits; School-Based Health Centers to lead environmental asthma interventions; and clinical providers to understand the impact of social determinants of health on their patients’ asthma.

Intended outcomes include:

• Asthma home visiting programs have increased capacity to deliver prevention-oriented care to families disproportionately impacted by asthma.
• More School-Based Health Centers incorporate environmental asthma interventions into asthma management.
• Clinical providers are better able to utilize a social determinants of health approach to health care, and to advocate for the policy and systems changes necessary to promote health equity.
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