Articles for Asthma Coalition of Texas

The Medicaid/CHIP Vendor Drug Program has updated the list of Maximum Allowable Cost (MAC) drugs. The new prices begin June 25, 2008. To learn more, please visit http://www.txvendordrug.com/productenroll.asp

MAY 5: Call For Nominations The National Asthma Educator Certification Board has continued to support asthma education certification for the past five years since the exam was first offered in September 2002. To date we have had over 3,200 educators sit for the exam with more than 2,224 of them passing and receiving the certified asthma educator (AE-C©) credential. As part of the continued success of the Board, the Nominating Committee must ensure that each director position is filled ...

Perry criticizes tougher EPA air quality standards March 12, 2008 Gov. Rick Perry called the tightened federal air quality standards announced Wednesday an arbitrary "moving target" that stand to especially punish Texas and its economy. Written by Staff, Associated Press Image_5146679 Gov. Rick Perry called the tightened federal air quality standards announced Wednesday an arbitrary "moving target" that stand to especially punish Texas and its economy. Texas has 22 of ...

New Study Indicates Decreasing Prescription Copayments Results in Increased Adherence for Patients with Chronic Diseases Tuesday January 8, 8:53 am ET Study published in Health Affairs highlights large employer's efforts to develop a healthier workforce by removing barriers to treatment PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Removing economic barriers to treatment for chronic conditions encourages patients to remain on recommended therapies according to a ...

February 27, 2008 - Deadline Approaching for Tamper-resistant Prescription Pad Requirement Deadline Approaching for Tamper-resistant Prescription Pad Requirement Beginning April 1, doctors and other health-care providers will be required to use tamper-resistant paper when writing prescriptions for patients with Medicaid coverage. This regulation applies to all written prescriptions submitted for payment through the Vendor Drug Program. The regulation does not apply to ...

At long last, the DSHS Asthma Control and Prevention Program has launched a new website! Please take a few moments to visit the site: http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/asthma

An interesting article on School Zone Idling Studies by the New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2007/10/15/071015ta_talk_widdicombe

Did your state make the grade on Tobacco Control this year? The American Lung Association has released its annual State of Tobacco Control report grading all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, on their policies to reduce tobacco addiction, diseases and death. Find out if your state has the policies in place to get the job done. The American Lung Association’s State of Tobacco Control 2007 report also grades the federal government. This year they only earned Ds and Fs. ...

UPDATE: Tyler Becomes Texas' 18th Smoke-free City By ADRIENNE GRAHAM Staff Writer The city of Tyler will be smoke-free in public facilities and all places of employment beginning June 1. Members of the Tyler City Council unanimously passed a smoking ban ordinance during a special meeting Wednesday morning, making Tyler the 18th city in the state of Texas to go smoke-free.“There is just no safe level of secondhand smoke,” Mayor Joey Seeber said. “The council tried to strike a ...

Mobile asthma bus, kids clinic rolled out By Lauren Grover Tyler Morning Telegraph It is hard for kids to miss school because of asthma when an asthma clinic is parked outside their classroom. Starting next week, students from Winona ISD can schedule appointments with the Breath of Life bus, a mobile asthma clinic designed by the University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler to treat asthma at school doorsteps all over East Texas. Exams, symptom management, medication and ...

2008 National Asthma Forum: Sharing, Learning, and Taking Action Together Don’t miss out on this great opportunity to build on your past experience! Register today for EPA’s Communities in Action for Asthma-Friendly Environments National Forum from May 1 - 2, 2008, in Washington, D.C.! Visit www.epaasthmaforum.com to register and view the complete agenda. Share best practices and learn from successful asthma management programs. This year’s event builds on past years to ...

Take Action During Asthma Awareness Month! May is Asthma Awareness Month. Join the US EPA in the national effort to raise awareness about asthma! This Asthma Awareness Month, host activities to educate people in your community about comprehensive asthma management. Download EPA’s new Asthma Awareness Month Event Planning Kit featuring new ideas for outreach and awareness activities, tips for working with the media, success stories, and much more! Once you have planned your activities, ...

Want to know what other communities think about the new Asthma Management Guidelines? Interested in helping to frame discussion around the Guidelines at the upcoming National Asthma Forum? This March, become a part of the Communities in Action for Asthma-Friendly Environments Online Network and share your perspectives on new opportunities and challenges presented to communities by the recently-released National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP) Report on the Guidelines ...

Asthma Educator leads award-winning community initiative Congratulations to Debra Long, CRT, AE-C (CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Children’s Hospital). As President of the South Texas Asthma Coalition, Ms. Long led an initiative to develop and implement a citywide, uniform Asthma Action Plan for the San Antonio public schools. In recognition of this project, Ms. Long received a scholarship award from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and was invited to give a presentation at the annual ...

Allies Against Asthma at the Center for Managing Chronic Disease (CMCD) of the University of Michigan, in partnership with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health, is pleased to announce the launch of the Physician Asthma Care Education (PACE) web pages on NHLBI's website: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/prof/lung/asthma/pace/index.htm NHLBI is disseminating the PACE program to ensure that this best practice tool for improving asthma ...

The NHLBI has issued more succinct and user-friendly summary of the guidelines. Please visit the following websites: Direct link to pdf of summary report: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/asthma/asthsumm.pdf Link to complete guidelines as well as summary: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/asthma/index.htm

AZ&Me™ Prescription Savings program for healthcare facilities helps uninsured patients access medicine at little to no cost Wilmington, DE – AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) launched a new program today to provide medicines free of charge to community free clinics, community health centers and hospitals that serve the uninsured. The AZ&Me™ Prescription Savings program for healthcare facilities is planning to provide free AstraZeneca medicines to hundreds of thousands of patients at approximately ...

Free Evidence-Based Health Care Course Offered by Johns Hopkins The U.S. Cochrane Center at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has launched a new online course on evidence-based health care. While the free course, “Understanding Evidence-Based Health Care: A Foundation for Action,” is open and available to anyone who wishes to enroll, it was expressly designed for consumer advocates in all areas of health care. The U.S. Cochrane Center is one of 12 centers worldwide ...