Pulmonary Rehabilitation

Breathing easier to improve your quality of life

If your lung disease makes breathing difficult or gives you shortness of breath, pulmonary rehabilitation can help you with your breathing challenges.

Pulmonary rehabilitation is an exercise and education program designed to help you breathe easier and improve your quality of life.

What to Expect with Pulmonary Rehabilitation

Is pulmonary rehabilitation right for me?

You can benefit from pulmonary rehabilitation if you or a loved one has any of the following diseases:

Watch: What to Expect with Pulmonary Rehabilitation

Learn from patients about the pulmonary rehabilitation program and how the program helped their treatment journey.

Pulmonary rehabilitation has two parts - exercise and education:

  • Exercise training helps you build strength and endurance to get your energy back
  • Education will help you learn about manage your lung condition. Topics include medications, stress, nutrition, and exercise.

During the program, the program will help you with the following:

  • Decrease and control your symptoms
  • Improve your shortness of breath
  • Help you get stronger
  • Teach you to manage stress and anxiety
  • Teach you energy saving skills
  • Improve your exercise ability
  • Improve your quality of life

Throughout the program, you will receive support from IU Health team members to learn how to cope with and manage your lung disease. Our care is designed for your needs – we will work at your pace. Our goal is to help you get back to a more active lifestyle so you can return to the things you enjoy.

To have the best results from attending pulmonary rehabilitation, patients should be motivated and ready to attend the program. We encourage spouses or significant others to attend all our education offerings.

Once you graduate from the program, we offer a maintenance exercise program for those patients who cannot continue to exercise without medical supervision.

How do I sign up?

To qualify for pulmonary rehabilitation, you must have a lung diagnosis that is covered by your insurance carrier. You also must have pulmonary function studies that meet the guidelines for pulmonary rehabilitation.

You will need a prescription/order from your physician. You will need to schedule an appointment for a pulmonary rehabilitation evaluation session.

What will pulmonary rehabilitation do for you?

Pulmonary rehabilitation has two parts - exercise and education:

  • Exercise training helps you build strength and endurance to get your energy back
  • Education will help you learn about manage your lung condition. Topics include medications, stress, nutrition, and exercise.

During the program, the program will help you with the following:

  • Decrease and control your symptoms
  • Improve your shortness of breath
  • Help you get stronger
  • Teach you to manage stress and anxiety
  • Teach you energy saving skills
  • Improve your exercise ability
  • Improve your quality of life

Throughout the program, you will receive support from IU Health team members to learn how to cope with and manage your lung disease. Our care is designed for your needs – we will work at your pace. Our goal is to help you get back to a more active lifestyle so you can return to the things you enjoy.

To have the best results from attending pulmonary rehabilitation, patients should be motivated and ready to attend the program. We encourage spouses or significant others to attend all our education offerings.

Once you graduate from the program, we offer a maintenance exercise program for those patients who cannot continue to exercise without medical supervision.

How do I sign up?

To qualify for pulmonary rehabilitation, you must have a lung diagnosis that is covered by your insurance carrier. You also must have pulmonary function studies that meet the guidelines for pulmonary rehabilitation.

You will need a prescription/order from your physician. You will need to schedule an appointment for a pulmonary rehabilitation evaluation session.

IU Health offers pulmonary rehabilitation at locations around the state. For more information about a program near you, please call:

IU Health Ball Memorial – 765.747.3773
IU Health Bedford – 812.276.4259
IU Health Blackford – 765.331.5091
IU Health Bloomington – 812.353.9811
IU Health Fort Wayne – 260.673.6151
IU Health Frankfort – 765.656.3280
IU Health Methodist – 317.962.3383
IU Health Tipton – 765.675.8644
IU Health West – 317.217.2983
IU Health Jay – 260.726.1943
IU Health White Memorial – 574.583.7111

Frequently Asked Questions

Many insurances cover pulmonary rehabilitation services. This includes Medicare and many private insurances. Traditional Medicaid does not cover pulmonary rehab services, but many Medicaid plans do! Some may require a co-pay. The pulmonary rehabilitation program will verify your insurance coverage prior to you starting the program. Be sure to ask the program when you talk to them.

Program length varies based on your lung condition. Many last between 4-12 weeks and meet 2-3 days a week. If you progress quicker, the program may be shorter.

It may vary depending on the location, but the average is 3 days per week.

There is free parking at many IU Health locations. If you are attending at IU Health Methodist, parking passes are provided to the patient to park in Garage 4.

Yes! Many patients attend pulmonary rehab with their oxygen. Many of the programs will provide oxygen while you are exercising. Always ask the program if they provide oxygen if you are concerned. Don’t let using oxygen stop you from attending pulmonary rehab!

Yes! The pulmonary rehabilitation team will develop a program especially for you, your disease and symptoms. You will have your own treatment plan to work towards your goals. Your exercise sessions are supervised by trained pulmonary rehabilitation staff.

IU Health offers pulmonary rehab programs around the state. Call the program where you want to attend, and the staff will be happy to answer your questions.

View all Patient Stories

Patient Stories for Pulmonary Rehabilitation

View all Patient Stories