The COPD Foundation recently launched their COPD Praxis program, which stands for Prevent and Reduce COPD Admissions through expertise and Innovation Sharing, and aims to bring together the joint efforts of academics, healthcare providers, and industry leaders to reduce hospital readmissions due to COPD exacerbation or symptom flare ups. Under the Praxis program, the foundation will be hosting the 2nd Readmission Summit early next year. It will run for 2 days and will be attended by prominent stakeholders in the field of COPD. Working with The COPD Foundation is Sunovion Pharmaceuticals, one of the primary sponsors of the Praxis program.
Today, over 24 million Americans are living with some form of COPD, which, despite being highly preventable, is one of the more common debilitating respiratory conditions prevalent today. It causes difficulty in breathing, fatigue intolerance, excessive mucus production, and can predispose the patient to respiratory infections. There are many treatment options available today, but some patients still experience acute exacerbations of their disease and have to rush to the hospital. In fact, it is estimated that COPD exacerbations cause 800,000 hospitalizations and 1.5 million emergency room visits every year, which amounts to about 70% of the $50 billion health dollars spent on COPD healthcare in general.
A survey of Medicare beneficiaries showed readmission expenses ranked third highest. To help solve this problem, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has expanded its coverage to include COPD under its Hospital Readmissions Reductions Program (HRRP), effective as of October 1, 2014. Under this program, health facilities that register too many 30-day COPD readmissions will be penalized with a reduction in Medicare reimbursement.
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“As the leading organization committed to improving the lives of patients with COPD, we recognize the growing need for information, education and expertise to reduce COPD-related hospital readmissions through better health management across the continuum of care, said John Walsh, Co-founder and President of the COPD Foundation. “Our mission with the COPD Praxis program is that the collaborative and multidisciplinary effort, including the 2ndReadmissions Summit, will help identify gaps and solutions to turn the tide toward more proactive patient-centric care.”
Last October 2013, the first COPD Readmissions Summit laid the foundation for this year’s upcoming summit that is set to determine key factors of this disease’s management across several disciplines. Breakthrough and highly promising modalities and treatments will also be presented, along with information dissemination initiatives for the improvement of COPD patient outcomes nationwide.