The Fantasthma program is a concept developed by the Florida Allergy Asthma and Immunology Society (FAAIS) to help in the diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment of high risk asthma patients.

     There are approximately 17 million asthmatics in the USA with 5% being school age. Asthma incidence has been on the rise for many years despite significant advances in the pharmacotherapy utilized to treat this disease state. Asthma is the leading cause of chronic diseases that lead to school absenteeism and it is also a leading cause of absenteeism from the workplace. Asthma is responsible for approximately $8 to 10 billion per year in direct and indirect health care costs. One major obstacle with regards to asthma care is a significant problem with underdiagnosis and undertreatment of this potentially lethal disease. A major tenet of asthma care has to do with the NIH guideline recommendation to use anti-inflammatory medications to control this disease state. Unfortunately studies in the medical literature indicate a significant deficit in the use of anti-inflammatory medications by many of the physicians currently treating asthmatics.

The goals of the Fantasthma program are as follows:

1. By working in harmony with health plans / MCO's, primary care physicians, and asthma specialists (Allergist or Pulmonologist) the program will first identify "high risk" asthma patients. It should be noted that "high risk" is a relative term and strict criteria will be determined prior to the identification process.
2. Once identified patients and the primary care physicians will be contacted in an effort to enroll patients into the program.
3. Once enrolled patients will be referred to an asthma specialist (Allergist or Pulmonologist) for further evaluation, treatment, and education.
4. Depending on the preference of the primary care physician and health plan patients will either return to their primary care physician for "maintenance" treatment or the asthma specialist will "retain" the patient for primary care of their asthma.
5. The final goal of the program is to increase awareness amongst the public, health plans, and primary care physicians that with the help of asthma specialists (Allergist or Pulmonologist) patients with asthma can have better control of their disease state and a much better quality of life.

     As of August 2001 the director of Fantasthma, Dr. Roger Danziger (board certified in Allergy / Immunology) has met with a number of medical directors of health plans in the Tampa Bay area in Florida to discuss the program. Dr. Danziger is currently on an asthma advisory board for the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida and is in the process of discussing the benefits of utilizing asthma specialists in the care of "high risk" asthma patients. Dr. Danziger is Past president of the Florida Allergy Asthma and Immunology Society. He is also the Allergy representative for Medicare State of Florida and he is an expert reviewer for the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) in Florida.

     The director of the Fantasthma program, Roger Danziger, M.D. can be contacted through the main executive office of the Florida Allergy Asthma and Immunology Society (FAAIS) located in Jacksonville, FL . Phone: 904.765.7702. The e-mail address of FAAIS is: email . Dr. Danziger can also be contacted via his personal e-mail address at: email .

     If you are a patient you can contact an asthma specialist (see how to contact an asthma specialist below) and set up for a a new patient evaluation / consultation. We do recommend that you review this with your primary care physician as some health care plans require a "referral/authorization" from your general medical doctor. If you are a primary care physician you can obtain a list of allergists or pulmonologists and subsequently refer your patient for a fantasthma specialist consultation. If you are a health plan / MCO you can contact the FAAIS executive office or Dr. Danziger to discuss how to initiate the fantasthma program for your health plan's "high risk" asthmatics.

     There are a number of ways to contact an asthma specialist. As mentioned above both Allergy and Pulmonary doctors specialize in the treatment of asthma. One this site you can find a Florida doctor by zip code at www.faais.org/roster.php. If you have health insurance you can look in your provider booklet under the section Allergy or Pulmonary. You can also check you local yellow pages book and look under the "physicians" section. In the physicians section there will be an alphabetic listing of specialists where you can find Allergy and Pulmonary doctors. Finally you can go to some excellent web sites that can help you locate an asthma specialist: www.AAAAI.org or www.ACAAI.org . These are the web sites for the American Academy and American College of Allergy Asthma and Immunology, respectively.

      The previously mentioned web sites, www.AAAAI.org and www.ACAAI.org are also excellent resources to gather more information about asthma. The Allergy and Asthma Foundation of America (AAFA) also has a web site www.AAFA.org which also has a wealth of information about asthma. More information about asthma is also available at the Florida Allergy Asthma and Immunology (FAAIS) web site at www.FAAIS.org.