Nadine Mokhallati, MD, Pulmonology, was recently awarded a 1-year grant from the PhRMA’s Collaborative Actions to Reach Equity (CAREs) program. The network of CAREs grant recipients is made up of community-based researchers and organizations committed to health equity.

The $25,000 grant will support development of Dr. Mokhallati’s “Electronic Medication Adherence Monitoring in a Pediatric Severe Asthma Clinic” project.

African American children are more likely to be hospitalized and more likely to die from asthma than white children due at least in part to social, economic, and environmental factors leading to suboptimal adherence to inhaler medication. Electronic medication monitoring is the gold standard for assessing inhaler adherence and has been shown in research studies to improve outcomes, but one challenge to uptake of this remote patient monitoring technology in real life is concern relating to data privacy and security.

The Advanced Asthma Interdisciplinary Respiratory (AAIR) Clinic at Children’s Mercy, which serves children with severe asthma who are primarily African American and/or covered by Medicaid, will undertake research to better understand patient and caregiver attitudes, barriers, and concerns about use of this technology.

“Our project not only has the potential to have a significant impact on improving asthma morbidity in this high-risk population, but also to serve as a framework for other asthma clinics around the country to incorporate technologies in real- world clinical practice to optimize patient care,” said Dr. Mokhallati. “Because COVID-19 has disproportionately affected minority populations, we believe it is our duty now more than ever to ensure that children with severe asthma in these communities receive access to programs and technology that would optimize their asthma management.”

Claire Elson, PharmD and Stephanie Duehlmeyer, PharmD are collaborators on this project.