35,000 GPs sent letters about their COPD triple therapy prescribing

The COPD-X guidelines say patients with COPD should be treated with a stepwise approach.

Thousands of GPs are being sent letters detailing their COPD triple-therapy prescribing, as data show that only 30% of patients are started on COPD dual therapy first.

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC) says it is concerned that triple-therapy dispensing has more than doubled from 2015/16 to 2022/23.

This month, it posted letters to 35,000 GPs telling them how many of their patients are receiving triple therapy — inhaled corticosteroids (ICS), LABA and a long-acting muscarinic antagonist (LAMA) — LABA/LAMA or ICS/LABA dual therapy or a single long-acting bronchodilator.

The letters, which draw on PBS data, then tell doctors how many of their triple-therapy patients have previously been prescribed a LABA/LAMA.

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