The American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC) has launched its “virtual lobby campaign” to advocate for two issues that are very important to the U.S. COPD Coalition and patients with chronic lung disease. The AARC is asking members of the U.S. House of Representatives to co-sponsor the Better Respiration Through Expanding Access to Tele-Health Act (the BREATHE … Read more
Outgoing Commissioner of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Scott Gottlieb, MD, has announced that the FDA is proposing new policies to restrict youth access to flavored electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) products (other than tobacco-, mint-, and/or menthol-flavored) and flavored cigars (other than tobacco-flavored). Commissioner Gottlieb issued the following statement: FDA is proposing to … Read more
Have you ever wanted to get involved in advocacy but don’t know how to do it? Our U.S. COPD Coalition partner, the American Thoracic Society (ATS) will be offering a workshop on advocacy as part of the ATS 2019 Annual Conference. The workshop, entitled Health Policy Advocacy 101: Effectively Inform Your Elected Officials” will be held on … Read more
The American Association for Respiratory (AARC) will hold its annual Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, April 9th. AARC will be asking House members to co-sponsor the Better Respiration through Expanded Access to Tele-Health Act (BREATHE Act) (H.R. XXXX) and Senators to introduce companion legislation. The BREATHE Act is a 3-year pilot that covers … Read more
The following news release is re-printed from our U.S. COPD Coalition partner organization, the Alpha-1 Foundation. The Alpha-1 Foundation Board of Directors is excited to announce the appointment of Miriam O’Day as the new president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Alpha-1 Foundation. “We thank Miriam for serving as interim CEO, since September 2018, and … Read more
Smiths Medical is recalling the sterile saline and sterile water products for inhalation due to the potential exposure to infectious agents (bacillus infantis and staphylococcus epidermidis) because of damage to the containers used to package the finished products. Use of these products in patients could result in infection and may require treatment with antibiotics. Serious … Read more
The Department of Health and Human Services National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services has published an important policy brief addressing the severe burden of COPD in rural America. Entitled Addressing the Burden of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) in Rural America: Policy Brief and Recommendations, the report discusses the significant disparity when it … Read more
While the burden of COPD and other chronic health conditions is severe throughout the country, patients are particularly vulnerable in rural settings due in part to lack of access to pulmonologists and other specialties. The National Rural Health Association (NRHA) is a national nonprofit membership organization that is working to lessen that burden. The NRHA’s … Read more
Alex M. Azar II, Secretary of Health & Human Services (HHS) spoke at the Council for Affordable Health Coverage’s Price of Good Health Summit in Washington, DC on January 15th. Secretary Azar defended the Trump administration’s blueprint for reducing the cost of drugs for Medicare Part B recipients. Azar noted that Medicare pays 80% more than other … Read more