7 Medical Centers Added to PFF’s Care Center Network
Move broadens pulmonary fibrosis patients' access to specialized care
The Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation (PFF) has added seven new medical centers to its Care Center Network (CCN) to improve pulmonary fibrosis (PF) patients’ nationwide access to specialized care.
The expansion brings to 81 the number of care network facilities in 35 U.S. states. Six sites were added in August including in California, Wisconsin, Illinois, Oklahoma, Florida, and Virginia. Names of a nearby care center are available online.
“We are pleased to broaden our reach to help more patients access specialized care,” said Jessica Shore, PhD, a registered nurse and vice president of clinical affairs and quality for the PFF, in a press release. “We couldn’t expand for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year we resumed our expansion plans and added a total of 13 leading pulmonology centers to our network.”
The most recent medical centers to garner the CCN designation include:
- Cedars-Sinai (Los Angeles, California)
- Corewell Health East (Royal Oak, Michigan)
- DartmouthHitchcock Medical Center (Lebanon, New Hampshire)
- Loma Linda University (Loma Linda, California)
- University of California San Diego (San Diego, California)
- University of Nebraska Medical Center (Omaha, Nebraska)
- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill, North Carolina)
To qualify for the designation, medical centers must meet criteria established by PFF experts with patient input. Because PF care requires various areas of expertise, the centers must be staffed by specialists such as pulmonologists, radiologists, respiratory therapists, and pathologists, as well experts in lung transplant, rheumatology, and pulmonary hypertension. The centers must also have nurses who specialize in interstitial lung diseases, which include all disorders marked by lung inflammation and/or scarring.
Care centers must also take a multidisciplinary approach to comprehensive care; participate in patient-oriented PF studies, including clinical trials; and collaborate with the foundation to provide patients, family members, and caregivers with educational materials and resources such as support groups and educational activities.
Centers also work with the PFF to engage their local communities through the organization’s programming and advocacy on behalf of the more than 250,000 U.S. residents thought to live with pulmonary fibrosis.
The CCN was established in 2013 with nine sites, and by 2019 had grown to 68 sites in 33 states.
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