Why is it important for your child with asthma to get the right types and amounts of asthma medicines?

Asthma is a lifelong disease that causes wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness, and coughing. Asthma attacks can be painful, scary, and dangerous. To prevent these attacks, your child’s doctor should make sure that your child gets the right combination of medicines for your child’s asthma and that you know when and how to help your child use them properly.

How should doctors treat asthma?

If your child has asthma, you and your child’s doctor should develop an asthma action plan. Your child’s doctor will prescribe medicines - called anti-inflammatories or controller drugs - that help reduce swelling in your child’s lungs that may lead to asthma attacks. Your child should also be prescribed reliever drugs to use when your child is having an asthma attack. Relievers help reduce wheezing, coughing and shortness of breath.

The doctor should show you when and how to correctly help your child use the medicines. The health plan and your child’s doctor should also help you learn how to help your child avoid asthma triggers such as tobacco smoke, mold, pet dander, and outdoor air pollution.

Talk with your child’s doctor and health plan to find out about what other services are available. Many health plans offer additional support and resources for patients with asthma. These additional services may be educational materials (online and in print), classes or support groups, or phone counseling.

What do the stars mean?

The scores show how well each health plan did at making sure children, ages 5 through 11, who have asthma got the right combination of medicines - called controllers and relievers - for their asthma. A higher score means more patients got the right care at the right time.

The scores are based on information from at least 30 health plan member administrative records in 2023.