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CCFA pilot program increases urgent care access for patients with IBD
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The Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America announced that initial results from a pilot program within IBD Qorus, its national quality care improvement initiative, has identified best practices for increasing urgent care access to IBD patients.
“The goal of this initial work was for participating sites to collaborate and identify ways to improve access to care services during urgent IBD events,” Gil Melmed, MD, director of clinical IBD at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and co-chair of IBD Qorus, said in a press release. “Participating sites brainstormed potential process changes that could be introduced into every day practice without major changes to their structure of care, and worked together in teams to test, track, and measure the impact of changes over time to assess for improvement in the delivery of urgent care and important patient outcomes.”
Throughout one year beginning in May 2015, participating sites shared monthly updates on how a selection of ideas affected their ability to provide urgent care, discussing what did and did not work, and how to implement proven ideas. As a result, several new urgent care strategies have been implemented at sites participating in IBD Qorus, and recommended to other sites.
Cedars-Sinai IBD Center implemented reserved urgent care slots, which were used 97 times in a year.
Penn State Hershey IBD Center created a new “nurse navigator” position, who managed three urgent care slots per week staffed by two providers, which were filled 100% of the time.
Baylor College of Medicine developed an urgent care hotline and educational emergency care cards, which decreased the number of emergency room visits among patients with active disease, and also reduced hospital stays and improved urgent care satisfaction.
“Having the sites regroup to share experiences, they are able to share successes, both large and small, identify potential barriers, and adapt accordingly,” Alandra Weaver, MPH, CCFA’s director of IBD Qorus, said in the press release. “What we are seeing with this initial work is how important knowledge sharing and collaboration are in improving health care.”
IBD Qorus facilitates patient–provider collaboration in an effort to improve outcomes and quality of care for IBD patients. Twenty gastroenterology practices currently participate in the program.