Home Health & Hospice Week

Untapped COPD market awaits.

The value of oxygen therapy for patients with COPD will be the focus of a large federally funded study--an effort that could help secure Medicare-funded oxygen therapy for patients with moderate forms of the disease.

Sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the study will be the largest randomized clinical trial to look at home oxygen therapy for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Researchers conducting the six-year, $28 million effort will study about 3,500 patients with moderate symptoms. Medicare now limits coverage of home oxygen therapy to those with severe COPD, in part because research doesn't support long-term oxygen therapy for patients with less severe symptoms.

Details: Study participants will be selected randomly beginning late in 2007. In March, Medicare announced that it will extend coverage of home oxygen treatment to Medicare-eligible patients enrolled in the study, who would not otherwise be covered.

Background: The study evolved from a scientific working group convened in May 2004 by NHLBI in cooperation with CMS and HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. That group called for more research on the safety and efficacy of long-term oxygen therapy in patients with COPD.

COPD is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. Medicare reimbursement of associated oxygen therapy now totals more than $2 billion per year, according to NHLBI. About 12 million adults in the United States have been diagnosed with COPD, and another 12 million are believed to be undiagnosed. Approximately one million COPD patients currently receive supplemental oxygen treatment.