Parents Say Portal Helps with Kids’ Asthma

A secure patient portal with information, decision support and tracking tools may help improve management of childhood asthma, a new study suggests. The study included 60 families. Each family had a child with moderate to severe asthma. Their ages were 6 to 12 years old. Families were randomly divided into 2 groups. One group received usual care. The other families were given access to a portal called MyAsthma. It was linked to the child’s electronic health records. The portal can be used to track treatment goals, symptoms and concerns. It also tracks medicine use and side effects. Doctors and patients can use it to support decisions about treatment. Of the 30 families assigned to use the tool, 57% used it in at least 5 of the study’s 6 months. These families reported fewer asthma flares than those getting usual care.