Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America recently released the results a one-year pilot program.
The program, IBD Qorus, aims to improve quality of care for patients suffering from inflammatory bowel disease. Over the past year, the 20 participating gastroenterology practices have identified best practices to facilitate IBD patients' access to urgent care.
Here are three of the successful initiatives:
1. The Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai Medical Center established reserved urgent care slots at their inflammatory bowel disease center, which were used 97 times throughout the year.
2. The Penn State Hershey Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center created a nurse navigator position, which supervised three weekly urgent care slots staffed by two physicians. These slots were filled every week.
3. The Houston-based Baylor College of Medicine implemented an urgent care hotline and emergency care cards, which reduced both hospital stays and emergency room visits.