AMED Amedisys Inc

In keeping with its growing efforts to tackle the most serious chronic illnesses, Amedisys Inc., (Nasdaq:AMED), a leading home health, hospice and personal care company, recently launched its second nationwide clinical program this year.

The new initiative will serve home health patients with COPD, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, a group of breathing-related diseases such as emphysema, chronic bronchitis and in some cases asthma. In 2016, Amedisys treated more than 60,000 patients who were diagnosed with COPD, now ranked as the third leading cause of death in the United States.

The COPD program at Amedisys is similar in patient empowerment methodology to a heart failure program Amedisys rolled out in February. At last count, Amedisys had enrolled more than 19,000 patients in its heart failure program. Last year, Amedisys treated some 100,000 patients diagnosed with heart failure.

The new COPD program is likewise interdisciplinary and evidence-based, in this case on guidelines from the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease or GOLD standard. Amedisys will deploy its clinicians to educate – and ultimately empower – patients and their families to manage COPD at home.

In the process, patients and caregivers will receive a COPD toolkit and individualized plan of care in conjunction with physician orders. Patients will thereby learn to make critical lifestyle changes intended to help identify and treat symptoms at home, manage medication and therapies which will in turn reduce exacerbations and decrease anxiety. For example, patients will learn to monitor themselves for symptoms and document personal progress on a checklist, and will be educated about breathing techniques, airway clearance and energy conservation.

“The key benefit of our new COPD program is that patients and family members can learn what they can do to help themselves,” says Susan Sender, Senior Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer at Amedisys. “The more they help themselves, the better we can help them.”

The program’s goal is to achieve a higher quality of life -- maintaining wellness and fostering independence – while promoting effective patient-doctor communications, improving functional status, decreasing shortness of breath, preventing avoidable hospital readmissions and lowering costs.

For more information on Amedisys’ COPD program, or to learn more about how home health can help you or your loved one, click here.

About Amedisys  Amedisys, Inc. is a leading healthcare at home Company delivering personalized home health, hospice and personal care. Amedisys is focused on delivering the care that is best for our patients, whether that is home-based personal care; recovery and rehabilitation after an operation or injury; care focused on empowering them to manage a chronic disease; or hospice care at the end of life. More than 2,200 hospitals and 61,900 physicians nationwide have chosen Amedisys as a partner in post-acute care. Founded in 1982, headquartered in Baton Rouge, LA with an executive office in Nashville, TN, Amedisys is a publicly held company. With approximately 16,000 employees, in 421 care centers in 34 states, Amedisys is dedicated to delivering the highest quality of care to the doorsteps of more than 385,000 patients in need every year. For more information about the Company, please visit www.amedisys.com.

Contact:Kendra KimmonsVice President of Marketing & Communications225-299-3708kendra.kimmons@amedisys.com