"Blue Card" COPD Initiative 12 Jan 2018

Last year an initiative was started in BOP to improve management of our COPD patients and to help keep them out of hospital.

Last year an initiative was started in BOP to improve management of our COPD patients and to help keep them out of hospital. The ‘Blue Card’ programme requires a member of a practice’s clinical team  to undertake a 6 hour GOLD training offered by the WBOPPHO through their Health and Wellness Centre. Another option would be to complete the programme over a series of lunchtime training modules.

Practice COPD Champions are eligible to enter patients into the COPD Programme which then entitles the practice to receive a Package of Care ($160 annually) along with funding for Pneumovax 23 ($40) where appropriate, once they have completed a Care Plan with the patient and issued a Blue Card which contains a range of both self-management advice when the patient becomes anxious, as well as vital “my norm” readings for first responders such as St John.

Patients eligible to enter this Programme must have had their COPD confirmed by spirometry and are: classified as High Need; holding a Community services Card; or have been admitted within the last 12 months as a direct result of their COPD.

Your practice can obtain a Resource Pack for Practices which includes a number of PMS related aspects including screenshots and dedicated queries that practices can run on their PMS to identify their COPD cohort.

Click here for further information on the management plan and funding arrangement for the Blue Card initiative.

For any queries, please contact Phil Back, manager of general practice services at WBOPPHO, Phone- 07 5773194, Cellphone- 021 2457802. Email- philb@wboppho.org.nz