News

On Friday, March 6, 2020 ImproveCareNow Executive Directors, Dr. Richard Colletti and Dr. Peter Margolis, announced the decision to move the in-person Community Conference scheduled for April 2-4, to a Live Online Community Conference on April 3.

ImproveCareNow has had enormous success since it began 13 years ago, including increasing remission rates for thousands of youth with IBD, transforming how pediatric IBD care is being provided, enlightening and exciting clinicians and other care providers, and engaging patients and parents in a shared purpose and work. We are pleased to share our ImproveCareNow Annual Update, which includes highlights and achievements from 2019 and plans for our continued work to improve health, care and costs for young people with IBD in 2020 and beyond.

ImproveCareNow Co-Founder, Dr. Richard B. Colletti has announced that he will step down from his role as President and Executive Network Director of ImproveCareNow, in June 2020. To facilitate a smooth leadership transition and the continued momentum of ImproveCareNow, a Leadership Search Committee has assembled with representation from all ImproveCareNow stakeholder groups. The Committee has released detailed job descriptions and opened recruitment for a .4 FTE (16 hrs or 2 days/week) ImproveCareNow Clinical Director and a full-time ImproveCareNow Executive Director.  

We believe that many of the most innovative and potentially high-impact ideas for improving pediatric IBD care are likely to come from those living with the condition daily. Because of this, ImproveCareNow has continued to support innovative project ideas through the ImproveCareNow Patient and Parent Innovation Fund. The awardees for year three of this program have now been announced!

On October 21, 2019, the National Academy of Medicine announced the election of 90 regular members and 10 international members. Peter Margolis, MD, PhD, Scientific Director for ImproveCareNow, was among those elected. 

Dr. Margolis is the Co-Director of the James M. Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati. His work encompasses the application and study of quality improvement methods in a broad range of areas including primary and sub-specialty care, communities and public health settings to improve the health outcomes of children, families and communities.

ImproveCareNow has officially endorsed the 2020 Crohn’s & Colitis Congress, a partnership of the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation and the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA).

The National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC) has released a report on caregiving of individuals with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). Riding the Roller Coaster of Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A National Study of Caregivers of Individuals with Crohn’s Disease or Ulcerative Colitis focuses on caregiving for the more than three million Americans affected by the two most common forms of IBD – Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

The full results of the survey can be viewed online at http://www.caregiving.org/ibd

The Board of Directors and the Strategy Council of ImproveCareNow have announced that President and Executive Network Director, Dr. Richard B. Colletti has made the decision to step down in June 2020.

ImproveCareNow was chosen as one of eight comparative case studies by the Project on Transparency and Technology for Better Health at the Harvard Kennedy School Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. In Exchanging Information to Create a Learning Health System: The ImproveCareNow Approach to Engagement, author Elena Fagotto elaborates on the power of learning networks, such as ImproveCareNow, to “enable different groups to exchange knowledge and co-create a learning health system to improve pediatric IBD Care.”

We know that many of the most innovative and high impact ideas for improving pediatric IBD care are likely to come from those living with the condition on a daily basis—ImproveCareNow (ICN) parent and patient partners. Previously, there was not a formal mechanism to encourage and provide support for projects proposed by these partners. While many successful projects have been carried out by dedicated parent and patient members of the ICN community, many more are not able to be advanced without funding and assistance.

In 2017, we decided to address these needs and advance projects that will make a difference in the lives of our community members. With support from the David R. Clare and Margaret C. Clare Foundation, we launched the ImproveCareNow Patient and Parent Innovation Fund. In the first two years, the Innovation Fund has supported three projects, and we are excited to announce that funding will continue with Round Three of the ImproveCareNow Patient and Parent Innovation Fund in 2019.