News

Michael D. Kappelman, MD, MPH of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (read the UNC press release here) and the ImproveCareNow Network has been awarded $7.9 million in funding from the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to conduct a five year study comparing Anti-TNF Monotherapy versus Combination Therapy with Low Dose Methotrexate in Pediatric Crohn’s Disease.

Dr. Richard Colletti, Executive Network Director for ImproveCareNow, has announced the Network’s intention to establish priorities for research that will guide the investment of organizational research resources.

Dr. Richard Colletti, Executive Network Director for ImproveCareNow, announced earlier this month that an innovative study by ImproveCareNow, using the ImproveCareNow registry database ("ICN2"), has been published in Pediatrics. In addition, the article is being highlighted by the American Gastroenterological Society (AGA). Below are the abstract and the AGA highlights. Congratulations to all of the ImproveCareNow community members, including patients, parents, clinicians, researchers and all committed improvers, who made this possible.

Attention parents! Do you ever wish you knew more about the diagnosis, treatment, or management of your child’s IBD? Maybe you’ve wondered whether a certain drug or lifestyle change would help your child. Or maybe you are looking for information about the best ways to help your child take more responsibility for managing his or her IBD. These are important questions that research can help answer and there are many more just waiting to be asked!

In July 2013 ImproveCareNow began collaborating with adult gastroenterologists on a 1-year pilot project to evaluate the feasibility of a Quality Improvement (QI) network involving centers caring for adult patients with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

Care centers participating in ImproveCareNow must assemble a multidisciplinary group of people who comprise what we call the “core QI team”. This team meets regularly, reviews data to identify areas for improvement, uses PDSA cycles to test and determine what changes will result in improvements, and steadily implements meaningful changes that result in more reliable and effective care for their IBD patients.

ImproveCareNow is pleased to announce that the Network has expanded to include 50 participating care centers, spanning 27 states and London, England.  Centers participating in ImproveCareNow now include 9 of the top 12 honor roll children’s hospitals, and 19 of the top 30 pediatric gastroenterology programs. 

ImproveCareNow is pleased to announce that the Network has expanded to include 46 participating care centers, spanning 26 states and including one center in London, England.  Centers participating in ImproveCareNow now include nine of the top 12 honor roll children’s hospitals, and 19 of the top 30 pediatric gastroenterology programs. 

ImproveCareNow is pleased to announce that the Network has expanded to include 44 participating care centers, spanning 26 states and including one center in London, England.  Centers participating in ImproveCareNow now include nine of the top 12 honor roll children’s hospitals, and 18 of the top 30 pediatric gastroenterology programs. The 44 ImproveCareNow centers have 415 pediatric gastroenterologists and 13,200 patients with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. 

Saturday, May 19th is World IBD Day - a day set aside for raising awareness about Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis (together known and Inflammatory Bowel Disease or IBD).  These chronic illnesses affect millions of people worldwide and currently there is no cure.  In the United States kids with Crohn’s and colitis have a better chance at remission.