The objectives of this project are to:

• Increase awareness of the gap between current practice and acceptable standards of care for COPD
• Provide educational interventions to improve COPD care and increase physician awareness of what constitutes high quality care for COPD

The ACP COPD Web Portal integrates content from across the spectrum of ACP resources and links to other relevant web sites. The portal provides concise answers to specific clinical questions and is a comprehensive educational resource on COPD for clinicians, health care professionals, and patients, alike.

The American College of Physicians (ACP) is well aware of the importance of diagnosis and management of COPD, and it continues to focus efforts on improving the awareness, treatment, and control of COPD and educating primary care physicians on the evidence-based standards of care.

ACP recently just released a guideline on diagnosis and management of COPD. In addition, the ACP's Medical Knowledge Self-Assessment Program (MKSAP) (mksap.acponline.org) provides detailed information about managing COPD. The Physicians' Information and Education Resource (PIER) (pier.acponline.org), the College's online clinical tool for internal medicine specialists, also has modules on diagnosis and management of COPD. Management issues in patients suffering from COPD are frequently covered in ACP Internist, the College's monthly newspaper, and in Internist Weekly, ACP's weekly electronic newsletter.

The American College of Physicians (www.acponline.org) is the largest medical specialty organization and the second-largest physician group in the United States. ACP members include 120,000 internal medicine physicians (internists), related subspecialists, and medical students. Internists specialize in the prevention, detection, and treatment of illness in adults.

The ACP Foundation (foundation.acponline.org), incorporated in 1999, supports the mission of ACP and strives to enhance professionalism and to improve the health and welfare of patients and society through initiatives that provide patients with the information they need to understand and manage their health.