• Surya P Bhatt.
• The Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama. sbhatt@uabmc.edu.
• Respir Care. 2024 May 28; 69 (6): 763771763-771.

AbstractCenter-based pulmonary rehabilitation is positioned as the accepted standard for pulmonary rehabilitation. There, however, are several barriers to its utilization, and usage rates remain as low as 4%, despite decades of trying to improve access. The question then arises as to who is really benefiting from center-based pulmonary rehabilitation as this therapy is barely available to eligible patients. Alternative modes of delivery of pulmonary rehabilitation have been tested. Meta-analyses indicate that these alternate modes are associated with clinical improvements comparable with center-based pulmonary rehabilitation in several outcomes that are important for patients, including the 6-min walk distance, dyspnea, and quality of life. These modes are also associated with better adherence to the intervention than center-based pulmonary rehabilitation. Telehealth pulmonary rehabilitation and home-based pulmonary rehabilitation, therefore, are attractive alternatives to center-based pulmonary rehabilitation and will exponentially increase pulmonary rehabilitation capacity.Copyright © 2024 by Daedalus Enterprises.

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