The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation has announced the launch of a new $5 million initiative to enhance care for adult cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. The initiative, called Program for Adult Care Excellence (PACE), will recruit and train CF care providers.

The goal of the initiative is to add 40 new adult care providers in care centers throughout the United States. The program was launched as a direct result of the ever-increasing adult CF population.

The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation was founded in 1955, when children with CF rarely survived long enough to attend elementary school. Currently, the median predicted age of survival for CF patients is 37.

“The need for enhanced resources to treat the adult CF population is a direct result of our success in extending the life span of people with cystic fibrosis,” says Preston W. Campbell, III, MD, executive vice president for medical affairs of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Previous investments in the expansion of adult care have included a mandate that all care centers with over 40 adult patients establish adult care programs in 2000.