Our Patients Comes First

The ultimate goal of the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation is to improve patient quality of life & ultimately find cures, and one piece of the puzzle to get there is by supporting a pipeline of committed clinicians and researchers. By supporting a pipeline of committed clinicians and researchers, we are ultimately improving patient quality of life and driving remission rates higher. Together, we’re spearheading efforts to speed up diagnoses, ensure more patients achieve remission with existing treatments, and help patients manage their IBD.

In 2021, we Improved patient care strategies by sharing best practices (through IBD Qorus) that led to positive patient outcomes. These efforts led to an urgent care toolkit that providers can now use to help keep patients out of the emergency room and hospital, as well as a positive treatment strategy, known as Treat to Target (TTT). Treat to Target (TTT) aligns a remission-based therapeutic goal with the patient’s personal goals regarding quality of life. TTT is designed to encourage the physician to monitor the patient more frequently in order to assess progress towards these pre-determined goals and adjust treatment accordingly. While used in other chronic diseases, this would be the first time a TTT strategy has been explored in a real-world setting.

In speaking with a member of our Healthcare Professional Engagement Committee, and a physician from one of our partners, Gastro Health, we discussed more in depth, the importance of the relationship between the work of the Foundation and our partnering providers. "Don't ignore your symptoms. It is important for a patient to find a gastroenterologist to help in diagnosis and in treatment of their disease," said Gastro Health's Dr. Molly McVey, M.D. "Early diagnosis and aggressive treatment is key to remission. Biologic therapies have changed treatment and prognosis in the IBD world making earlier remission and great long term prognosis realistic goals."