By: Cheryl Hentz  Oct. 23, 2017

Hospitalizations and visits to Emergency Departments have increased over the past 10 years, despite both local and national efforts to reduce burdens on patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, or COPD. COPD is an umbrella term used to describe progressive lung diseases including emphysema, chronic bronchitis, non-reversible asthma, and some forms of bronchiectasis. It is characterized by increasing breathlessness.