Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Management Program

Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania offers a program to help you manage Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), a lung disease that affects millions of people. COPD includes diseases such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis. About 24 million adults in the U.S. have evidence of impaired lung function indicating that COPD is under diagnosed. If you have COPD, it is important for you to learn about your disease and how you can manage it.

A person with COPD can have either emphysema or chronic bronchitis, but most have both. Some people with COPD may also have “asthma-like” symptoms, such as wheezing. Cigarette smoking is the most common cause of COPD. Most people with COPD are smokers or former smokers. Breathing in other kinds of lung irritants, like pollution, dust or chemicals over a long period of time may also cause or contribute to COPD.

A Care Coordinator will help you manage your COPD while working toward the following goals:

• Relieving your symptoms with no or minimal side effects of treatment
• Slowing the progress of the disease
• Improving exercise tolerance (your ability to stay active)
• Preventing and treating complications and sudden onset of problems
• Improving your overall health

COPD management includes:

• Learning more about your COPD
• Leading a healthy lifestyle that includes exercise and diet
• Quitting smoking
• Avoiding infection
• Following medication therapy and oxygen therapy
• Retraining your breathing
• Learning techniques to bring up mucus
• Developing an action plan

Improve the quality of your life by calling Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania’s COPD Management Program for education and support. For more information or to enroll in the program, call a Care Coordinator toll-fee at 1-866-262-4764, weekdays, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

To learn more about the COPD program, click here.

To view the spring COPD newsletter, click here.

To view previous newsletter issues, click here.