A new national plan to reduce the harmful effects – and costs—of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) was outlined by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health.

The COPD National Action Plan was developed over the course of a year through stakeholder engagement, workshops and other feedback channels to address the challenges faced by the more than 16 million people with COPD. The disease, which costs Americans more than $32 billion a year, can stifle a person’s ability to breathe, lead to long-term disability and significantly affect quality of life.

The plan offers a unified, coordinated approach to addressing COPD by identifying the specific work doctors, educators, researchers, federal agencies, patients, advocates and the biomedical industry can do to make a difference.

“This plan represents a new understanding of what it takes, at every level, to minimize the burden of COPD,” said Gary H. Gibbons, MD, the director of NHLBI. “Through thoughtful collaboration with federal agencies, patients, advocates and researchers, we will help the millions who continue to endure this debilitating disease.”

The action plan seeks to build on current knowledge of the disease by focusing on five goals:

• Empower patients, their families and caregivers to recognize and reduce burden of COPD
• Equip healthcare professionals to provide comprehensive care to people with COPD
• Collect, analyze, report and disseminate COPD data
• Increase and sustain COPD research, and
• Turn COPD recommendations into research and public healthcare actions.

More detailed information about the COPD National Action Plan is available through the NIH.