Posted by ImproveCareNow™ on August 17, 2016
Dykes D, Williams E, Margolis PA, Ruschman J, Bick J, Saeed S, Opipari L. Improving pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) follow-up. BMJ Quality Improvement Reports 2016; 5(1)
Standardization of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) care through participation in the ImproveCareNow (ICN) Network has improved outcomes for pediatric patients with IBD, but under the current care model, our improvements have plateaued. Current ICN model care guidelines recommend health supervision visits every six months. We identified a gap in our practice's ability to ensure either a routine six month follow-up or a rapid follow-up after a disease flare, and a significant number of patients with active disease status during a six month period lacked timely reassessment after interventions or medication changes. Telemedicine provides an alternative method of care delivery to address these gaps, but has had limited use in patients with IBD.