UNICEF Suggests Four Steps to Protect Kids from Air Pollution
Air pollution contributes to the deaths of about 600,000 children under age five every year and nearly one in seven kids — about 300 million — live in areas with toxic levels of air pollution that exceed international guidelines by six times or more. Overall, two billion children live in areas where outdoor air pollution […]
Read the post:UNICEF Suggests Four Steps to Protect Kids from Air Pollution
CMS Stuns Pulmonary Community with Significant Drop in Payment for Pulmonary Rehabilitation
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced final rules that update payments to hospitals under the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System beginning Jan. 1, 2017 (CY 2017). These rules include payment for Pulmonary Rehabilitation. In setting payment rates under HOPPS, CMS assigns a Status Indicator to each code to determine how payment […]
Read the post:CMS Stuns Pulmonary Community with Significant Drop in Payment for Pulmonary RehabilitationATS, ACCP, Publish New Ventilator Discontinuation Guidelines
New guidelines from the American Thoracic Society and American College of Chest Physicians may provide additional guidance for clinicians like respiratory therapists who manage patients on mechanical ventilation. Developed by a committee of experts, the guidelines are an update to the 2001 CHEST guideline on ventilator liberation and are based on the most recent evidence […]
Read the post:ATS, ACCP, Publish New Ventilator Discontinuation GuidelinesCHEST 2016 Presenter Emphasizes Importance of RT Role in Home Visits
Patients with chronic lung diseases like COPD and asthma need to make regular visits to their physicians’ offices to maintain control of their conditions. But getting patients to show up for these visits can be a challenge. A new study conducted by researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, at Fresno finds just one […]
Read the post:CHEST 2016 Presenter Emphasizes Importance of RT Role in Home VisitsRTs Celebrate Real Life Heroes
National Respiratory Care Week took place the last week in October, and therapists from Maine to California used the occasion to raise awareness of the profession and the clinicians who play such an integral role in the health and wellbeing of people with respiratory conditions. Here’s a brief look at some of their celebrations — […]
Read the post:RTs Celebrate Real Life HeroesNovember is the Month to Build Your COPD Skills
Here’s a rundown of what we have available for you — and for your patients and your colleagues too: Our COPD Educator Course can help position you for a greater role in COPD disease management in your hospital. Our Alpha-1 Course covers everything from pathobiology to optimal management to emerging therapies for the leading genetic […]
Read the post:November is the Month to Build Your COPD SkillsCOPD Month: We’re Raising Awareness, You Should Too!
November is COPD Awareness Month, and that means we all need to get out into our communities and let people know what this chronic lung disease is all about and how respiratory therapists are involved in its treatment. Go Orange! Here at the AARC, we’re posting COPD-related messages on our social media pages throughout November, […]
Read the post:COPD Month: We’re Raising Awareness, You Should Too!COPD National Action Plan: Respiratory Therapists Can Make a Difference
The AARC is proud to submit comments on the first ever COPD National Action Plan developed by the National Heart, Lung, Blood Institute (NHLBI). This landmark document is long overdue and advocated by the AARC, COPD Foundation, and many others. The plan came together as a result of a COPD Town Hall meeting held earlier […]
Read the post:COPD National Action Plan: Respiratory Therapists Can Make a DifferenceSmoking Leads to Excessive Cancer Deaths, More Money for Tobacco Control Could Help
Respiratory therapists regularly advocate for increased spending on tobacco control measures. Unfortunately, tobacco control often gets the short end of the stick in state budgets. New research from investigators at the American Cancer Society suggests that’s taking a toll. Based on large prospective U.S. studies and state-specific smoking prevalence data, they calculated the population-attributable fraction […]
Read the post:Smoking Leads to Excessive Cancer Deaths, More Money for Tobacco Control Could HelpHome Oxygen Study Offers Lessons for RTs
Long-awaited results from a study conducted among COPD patients with moderate oxygen deficiency who were and were not treated with long-term oxygen therapy are now in, and the take home message for respiratory therapists and other clinicians is this: in this group of patients, home oxygen does not result in longer life, shorter time to […]
Read the post:Home Oxygen Study Offers Lessons for RTs