Respiratory therapists in a primary role as disease manager

At Crouse Hospital in Syracuse, New York, the Lung Partners (LP) program is being utilized to positively impact the management of a health population (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, COPD) within our community. LP is a comprehensive, Primary Respiratory Care model for inpatient COPD disease management, currently comprised of 27 Respiratory Therapists (RTs) who are disease management specialists, having completed an extensive training program. There are over 600 COPD patients enrolled in our program, and in our database, which is approximately 25% of the diagnosed COPD population in our community