News for Immediate Release
May 15, 2025
Harrisburg – PHC4 published a new research brief today, Asthma Hospitalizations in Pennsylvania, providing insights by age, sex, race/ethnicity, county, and other patient characteristics.
This research brief focuses on hospitalizations for Pennsylvania residents of all ages who were admitted to a Pennsylvania acute care hospital with a diagnosis of asthma. Trends are shown for federal fiscal years (FFY) 2016 through 2024, with additional focus on hospitalizations from FFY 2023 through FFY 2024.
Providing this fact-based data allows stakeholders to assess the current climate of asthma care in Pennsylvania, providing focus and perspective. Barry D. Buckingham, PHC4’s Executive Director, believes these research briefs are valuable resources serving as a tool in assessing quality of care in Pennsylvania. “Examining hospital admissions for asthma is one way to observe the quality of care provided to Pennsylvania residents with asthma. This type of reporting adds to the resources used to effectively reduce and prevent asthma-related hospitalizations,” said Buckingham. He went on to add that timely diagnosis, effective primary care, and appropriate disease management can all potentially prevent hospitalizations for asthma.
Amongst the data reported, hospitalization rates were found to be higher than the statewide baseline for:
- Residents who were less than 18 years old
- Female residents
- Black (non-Hispanic) residents, Hispanic residents, and residents classified as Other (non-Hispanic)
- Residents who live in areas with a poverty rate of 10% or more
- Residents who live in urban counties
By fostering a data-driven approach to health care, PHC4 envisions a healthier, more resilient society where resources are allocated effectively, and lives are improved. PHC4 aims to continue to serve its mission of empowering Pennsylvanians through transparency and welcomes you to review its reports, which are publicly available.
PHC4 is an independent council formed under Pennsylvania statute (Act 89 of 1986, as amended by Act 15 of 2020) in order to address rapidly growing health care costs. PHC4 continues to produce comparative information about the most efficient and effective health care to individual consumers and group purchasers of health services. In addition, PHC4 produces information used to identify opportunities to contain costs and improve the quality of care delivered.
For more information, visit phc4.org or access the report here.
Media contact:
Barry D. Buckingham, Executive Director, PHC4
