A national collaboration between Boehringer Ingelheim Canada and the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement (CHFI), aimed at expanding a hospital-to-home program to better support people living with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), has improved coordination of care, patient and family centredness, and health system efficiencies.
The collaboration, launched in 2014 and known as INSPIRED, supports COPD programs across the country, providing patients and their families with self-management education, psychosocial and spiritual care support, and advance-care planning.
Among the many programs that have benefitted from INSPIRED is Alberta’s Continuing Care Project within Alberta Health Services (AHS), led by Edmonton Zone Home Living/Care. As a result of INSPIRED, the Alberta project has enrolled more than 1000 people living with COPD and trained more than 28 COPD educators.
Across the country, INSPIRED has also shown impressive results, including a two-thirds reduction in acute care hospital admissions and emergency department visits, and increased confidence from patients in managing their symptoms and returning to activities. In addition, family members and healthcare providers have reported positive impacts, including better support for transition from hospital-to-home and having the information they need to manage COPD.
Unique to the INSPIRED model has been the integration of the voice of the patient and healthcare provider, through one-on-one interviews, feedback and engagement in the development of the model.
The collaboration reinforces the value that public-private partnerships can provide. In Alberta alone, INSPIRED has shown the potential to prevent 6,300 emergency visits, 4,100 hospitalizations and 37,000 hospital bed days, for a five-year savings of $64 million CAD.