COPD lung diseases have no cure; symptoms can be controlled

This article highlights a promising practice at PeaceHealth Medical Group Pulmonary. All COPD patients, independent of history of hospital admissions or readmissions, are admitted to their program. This promising practice includes: 1) automatic referral for pulmonary follow up upon hospital discharge; 2) home visits after hospitalization; 3) yearly pulmonary function tests; 4) patient education and smoking cessation support; 5) comorbidity screening; and, when appropriate, 6) pulmonary rehabilitation. The organization reports a dramatic decrease in readmissions rates for patients with COPD.