COPD patients in US have limited access to adequate care

For many Americans, sufficient care for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease remains out of reach, according to a report commissioned by The Lancet Respiratory Medicine that will be presented at the American Thoracic Society conference on May 17 in San Francisco.

The report is authored by 28 respiratory health experts and involved the interviewing of patient representatives, caregivers, healthcare providers and insurance companies to identify challenges experienced by COPD patients and provide potential solutions.

While access to drugs like inhalers has improved, patients have to make copayments of $75 or more per drug, according to the report. This results in patients going days without medication as well as skipping or skimming doses. Only half of medications prescribed to COPD patients are taken in accordance with prescribed instructions, researchers found.

The report also found that approximately 20 percent of COPD patients admitted to the hospital are readmitted within 30 days and that only 1 in 3 hospital admissions provided patients standard recommended treatments.

"As a physician, I can discuss best treatments with my patients, only to later find out it isn't covered by their insurance, or the copay is simply too high. This report aims to move us from debating what ideal care could look like, back to a discussion of what patients are actually facing on a day-to-day basis," said MeiLan K Han, MD, lead author of the report and associate professor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Though COPD is primarily brought on by smoking, approximately 16 percent of those affected have never smoked. COPD affects more than 15 million Americans, and120,000 of those affected die each year. Read more about COPD here.

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