Improve Care Now helps care providers and their organizations to provide a higher level of care for pediatric IBD then they are able to provide on their own.  In addition to receiving robust quality improvement (QI) systems for the treatment of these diseases, physicians and other care providers benefit from active collaboration with other doctors and medical institutions that helps all providers to improve care – and clinical outcomes - rapidly.  Improve Care Now enables care providers to know at all times how their entire patient population is doing, and also allows them to identify patients who need extra or special care and see that they receive it.

Helping You To Excel

Rather than requiring care providers to develop their own QI systems and network to achieve these capabilities, Improve Care Now provides a robust infrastructure that allows care sites to rapidly implement model care without expensive or time-consuming infrastructure development.  The tools and support offered by the program include: 

• Collaboration among a wide range of clinicians representing a broad range of patients and circumstances, for the benefit of all.
• Evidence-based information on IBD treatments and results.
• A secure, HIPAA-compliant data management infrastructure, including web-based data entry, data storage, reports and data analyses.
• Tools, forms and other aids to help with implementation of changes, including:
  • A Pediatric IBD Nutrition Algorithm for improving the management of patients with unsatisfactory nutrition or growth.
  • A program of four specific interventions to improve care for patients.
• Coordinated communication across all sites to provide participants with analyses about the effectiveness of changes and about the work of their colleagues during the improvement process.
• Measures for tracking and a repository of interventions for application and testing
• Education and coaching on the QI process as it pertains to IBD, including a systems framework and methods for testing and implementing improvements in care – within a single care site and across all participating sites.
• Beneficial learning and study workshops for participants

Powerful Data

Patient data and status is entered during each patient visit, and the results are automatically tabulated and entered in a national database shared by all participating organizations.  The data management system provides powerful analysis and reporting capabilities, and care providers can access informative, actionable reports for their own organization as well as for all participating practices.

According to the American Board of Pediatrics, Improve Care Now offers the largest database available regarding treatment of pediatric IBD. Under the guidance of experts in quality improvement and care delivery, participating sites have been consistently applying innovative quality improvement methods to improve initial diagnostic testing and evaluation; to standardize the classification of the severity, phenotype and extent of disease; to improve the detection and treatment of poor nutrition and growth; and to improve the use of immunomodulator and other medications.  Each site is utilizing improved clinical information systems and a population registry to improve documentation, monitoring and care.

Measurable Results

The program’s data demonstrate rapid improvements in adherence to standards of care for practices that join the program, and, as the program enters its third year, significant gains in the percentage of patients with inactive disease.  An examination of the program’s data to date suggests that if all pediatric gastroenterology practices joined the program, then an additional 10,000 patients would move from active to inactive disease status in the United States – and this number continues to rise as the percentage of patients in remission continues to rise.  This progress has led the American Board of Pediatrics to recommend participation in Improve Care Now to all practices, and to accept participation in the program as qualification for Maintenance of Certification by the Board.

Improve Care Now is ready to help you to evaluate the program for your own organization, and offers lots of help to make joining the program as easy as possible.

Learn More Today

To schedule a call with us to learn more about the collaborative, click the Get Started button below.  Or select an additional article from the Learn section of the menu to your left, above to learn more.