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). 

ImproveCareNow is pleased and proud to introduce an excellent new self-management resource for young patients and their families who are living with Crohn’s Disease and ulcerative colitis (Inflammatory Bowel Disease or IBD). Living Well with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Self-Management Handbook for Patients & Families with IBD, or “the Handbook”, is a comprehensive resource for patients and families who are learning about these conditions.  

ImproveCareNow makes its abstracts available on its website. These abstracts, authored by a collaboration of researchers, physicians, and quality improvement experts dedicated to helping children and adolescents with ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, have been presented at national scientific meetings such as the 2009 NASPGHAN Annual Meeting and Advances in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Conference, among others.

The ImproveCareNow Collaborative is a program in which pediatric gastroenterologists at 16 practice sites in the US are working together to develop, test and implement quality improvement tools to improve the care and health of over 2,000 children and adolescents with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Since early 2008 the proportion of our Crohn’s disease patients who are in remission has progressively increased from 49% to 64%, and the remission rate of our ulcerative colitis patients is increasing as well. 

The Mayo Clinic in Rochester MN—ranked No. 1 in Digestive Disorders in the U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals rankings—has joined the ImproveCareNow alliance of health care facilities dedicated to helping children and adolescents with ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s Disease. For more information about the Mayo Clinic, visit the Mayo Clinic website. 

According to a recently released report by the US News & World Report1, ImproveCareNow centers are among the best children’s hospitals, ranked at the top of the Honor Roll and in Gastroenterology specialty. Rankings are based on a reputational survey sent to pediatric specialists and a data survey that is sent to a handpicked set of hospitals.

The American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) is the certifying organization for pediatric physicians.  Certification by the ABP is recognized throughout the world as a credential signifying a high level of physician competence.

ImproveCareNow is a quality improvement project that focuses on measuring and improving the care we provide for our patients with IBD.  Since we joined ImproveCareNow in October 2007, we have enrolled 184 patients at UNC and have recorded over 400 visits to our clinic.  These patients, including your child, are included in an online database which stores information on more than 2000 pediatric IBD patients around the country.  At each visit, we record the patient’s height, weight, medication use, and related lab values to be stored in the database.  We also take note of nutritional status, disease status, and growth.