Driving Better Quality of Care
IBD Qorus is a quality-of-care initiative that brings together leading clinicians, researchers, and patients.
More than 50 academic centers and community gastroenterology practices are participating across the country, and the program continues to grow.
IBD Qorus is the Foundation’s flagship program that enables gastroenterologists to provide their patients with the best possible care by learning from one another and from patients, who are also actively involved. Participating clinicians engage in regular conference calls and twice-yearly, in-depth meetings during which they discuss new patient-care strategies and how best to implement them. From these learnings come publications that can help other clinicians and patients all over the country.
The learnings are often immediate and powerful. For example, one IBD Qorus brainstorming session led to physicians at several practices assigning a nurse in each of their offices to make weekly phone calls to their patients at highest risk for an emergency room visit in order to proactively assess their status and loop in the doctor if necessary. The physicians also kept a few slots open for high-risk patients in case they needed an in-office visit quickly. These simple practice changes have already helped keep many IBD patients out of the emergency room.
Patients enroll in IBD Qorus through a participating gastroenterologist. Once enrolled, patients get access to an online pre-visit questionnaire, so they can share current symptoms and concerns ahead of time and their doctor can prepare for a meaningful in-person appointment. During appointments, doctors and patients review the questionnaire data and use it to guide them as they discuss any changes, reassess current medications, and make decisions about treatment.
IBD Qorus has already led to the publication of many peer-reviewed manuscripts, abstracts, and other scientific papers. Click here for information about these publications.
Currently, we are conducting an IBD Qorus–based study designed to determine whether using a “treat-to-target” approach will help more patients achieve better outcomes.
IBD Qorus is directed by two co-chairs, Gil Melmed, MD, of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and Corey Siegel, MD, of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire, but there are sites all over the United States. Click here to see a list of participating sites.
