News

CIRCLE is a new eNewsletter that is being published by ImproveCareNow - an established network of pediatric gastroenterology care centers dedicated to improving care and outcomes of kids with Crohn's Disease and ulcerative colitis.  

The patient voice is one to be heard. In 2011, the Patient Advisory Council (PAC) for theImproveCareNow Network was established to provide valuable input and act as an advocate, as well as serve as a resource and co-designer for the Collaborative Chronic Care Network (C3N).

ImproveCareNow is wrapping up a week-long media campaign, delivered in partnership with the C3N│Collaborative Chronic Care Network. Our campaign aimed to engage our supporters to share their voices and stories; to help expand our circle and raise awareness about Crohn’s Disease and ulcerative colitis during the first annual Crohn’s & Colitis Awareness Week (December 1 – 7). 

Watch ImproveCareNow physician Dr. Chris Forrest present via web/NIH VideoCast for the Conference on Methodological Challenges in Comparative Effectiveness Research, December 2-3, 2010. Please find below the details for accessing the video.

Below is a summary of the Enhanced Registries grant

Building Modular Chronic Disease Registries for QI and Comparative Effectiveness Research

     A learning healthcare system comprises a community of front-line clinicians, patients, and scientists who view each clinical encounter as an opportunity to learn and to improve patient outcomes.  In its most advanced state, it combines comparative effectiveness (CE) research with quality improvement (QI) science to ensure the delivery of new knowledge at the point of care. 

ImproveCareNow is pleased to report that a recently completed survey shows that the 29 participating sites of ImproveCareNow have approximately 270 physicians and nearly 10,000 patients. The Advanced Track teams, which began the collaborative in 2007, have about 3,000 patients and currently 2,200 (71%) of them are enrolled.  The Foundations Track Teams, began in 2008, and have about 7,000 patients and are just beginning to enroll them.  

The Children's Hospital in Denver, Colorado, which made Honor Roll as one of the nation’s ten best pediatric hospitals in the U.S. News & World Report’s 2009 edition of America's Best Children’s Hospitals, joins Improve Care Now. By joining Improve Care Now, The Children's Hospital participates in the nationwide collaboration of medical care facilities dedicated to helping children and adolescents with ulcerative colitis and Crohn's Disease get better.

ImproveCareNow is pleased to announce that two additional hospitals will be joining the ImproveCareNow Collaborative Network, including the first site from outside the US Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London, England, with Physician Leader Mamoun Elawad, will be joining the Collaborative.

• Dr. Elawad will be attending the Learning Session in Chicago this weekend with two other members of the GOSH core QI team, Nikki Acton and Sibongile Chadokufa.

AWARD: $10,000 USD  |  DEADLINE: 6/18/11 | SOURCE: InnoCentive  | CHALLENGE ID: 9932749 

Challenge Overview

The Collaborative Chronic Care Network (C3N) is looking for approaches to using games and/or game dynamics applications to inspire adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease (both Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis) and other chronic illnesses to create and maintain their own health. 

This past Friday, doctors, nurses, parents and policy makers met to release the much anticipated results of a study by ImproveCareNow, the collaborative that is helping kids with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis get better now. Writing about the event, Thomas McCormally, senior director of Public Relations at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, says: