AAHomecare to Recruit Providers, Patients for Study on COPD Patients

WASHINGTON (March 26, 2015)—The American Association for Homecare (AAHomecare) today announced that AAHomecare will be working to recruit providers and patients to join a comparative effectiveness study on COPD patients. Funded by the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), the Peer-Led O2 Infoline for patient and Caregivers (PELICAN) study will examine whether more follow-up and education at the beneficiary level will ultimately lead to better compliance and outcomes. The study is being conducted by researchers at the University of Illinois Breathe Chicago Center, National Jewish Health, LA BioMed, AlphaNet, and the COPD Foundation. Partner organizations include Apria Healthcare, Fitzsimmons Home Medical Equipment, American Association for Respiratory Care, Invacare Corp., Klingensmith Healthcare, Wellspan Medical Equipment, Orbit Medical, Rush University Medical Center, Sturdy Memorial Hospital, and Trego County Lemke Memorial Hospital. “As the national association for home medical equipment (HME) providers, AAHomecare is well positioned to help the PELICAN study recruit HME providers and their patients,” said Tom Ryan, president and CEO of AAHomecare. “This study will go a long way towards quantifying the impact of peer coaching on adherence and self-management, leading to better patient outcomes.” Participating HME providers will conduct four home visits to collect information about the O2 equipment in the home and the patient’s O2 prescription. For a patient to be eligible, they must be at least 18 years old, have COPD, be prescribed for 24hr O2 use, expected to live at least six months and speak English or Spanish. There is no charge to enroll and participants and patients will be compensated. If you are interested, please email Peter Rankin at peterr@aahoemcare.org ASAP for more information.