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Phoenix, Ariz. (June 2, 2011) - With Maricopa County asthma rates higher than the national average at 21 percent, Phoenix Children's Hospital has worked aggressively the past five years to improve the quality of asthma care for the county's youngest residents. As a result, over the last three years, fewer asthma patients have been readmitted to the hospital. For this effort, international health care judges awarded Phoenix Children's Honorable Mention in the 2011 RACE for Results competition.

The RACE for Results award, given each year by Child Health Corporation of America, recognizes exceptional clinical and business improvements in children's hospitals. The competition attracted more than 30 entries from the nation's leading children's hospitals.



The journey to build the Hospital's respiratory therapy department has been a steady building process that began with recruiting Christine Tenaglia from Children's Hospital of Wisconsin to become the Director of Respiratory Care at Phoenix Children's. She went to work immediately on three elements to improve respiratory therapy: inpatient use of relievers, inpatient use of corticosteroids and producing a home management plan of care (HMPC). She knew those indicators were the judging basis for the respiratory care program and began measurement of all three areas immediately.

The approach paid off and since 2009, the Home Medical Plan of Care (HMPC) score has remained in the 90 percent range, and in September and October 2010, the team scored 100 percent in compliance rating. This major improvement, and Hospital's consistent 100 percent scores for use of relievers and corticosteroids, has catapulted Phoenix Children's into the top 10 pediatric asthma care programs nationwide.

Michael Pugh, President and CEO, Verisma Systems, Inc., one of the judges who decided the Honorable Mention prize, said, "This project demonstrates an important intervention with widespread applicability. The changes involved can be spread to other hospitals to the significant benefit of many patients."

The results are clear. Since 2008, the Hospital has achieved sustained performance greater than 90 percent in providing patients with individualized home management care plans. Phoenix Children's has also avoided 22 readmissions and has saved $318,674 in the past three years.

"This is more than a victory for our team. It's a victory for the kids. It means the children we are assisting are benefiting from our improvements. If a child never returns, that means they are fine - ultimately, that's what we want," said Christine Tenaglia, Director of Respiratory Care at Phoenix Children's Hospital.

About Phoenix Children's Hospital

Phoenix Children's Hospital, ranked in U.S. News & World Report's Best Children's Hospitals, is Arizona's only licensed children's hospital, providing world-class care in more than 40 pediatric specialties to children from throughout the state and region. Phoenix Children's is in the midst of a major expansion to meet the needs of the Southwest's rapid population growth. The signature element of the expansion is a new 11-story, 750,000-square-foot tower which will enable the hospital to grow from 345 licensed beds today to a total of 626 licensed beds once the project is complete. The hospital's expansion also includes an aggressive physician recruitment effort and new satellite centers in high growth areas of the Valley. For more information, visit the hospital's web site at www.phoenixchildrens.com.