Long-Term Sustained Improvement in Unplanned Healthcare Utilization in Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Abstract

Inflammatory bowel diseases are associated with unpredictable disease exacerbation and need for urgent care. We aimed to assess long-term sustained improvement in emergency department utilization after completion of a multicenter quality improvement (QI) initiative. After the QI initiative, we developed an "urgent care toolkit" for sites to implement. We measured patient-reported and provider-reported outcomes at clinical visits. Improvements in emergency department utilization and hospitalization were sustained for over 3 years after completion of the initiative. Efforts to sustain improvements after a QI initiative can result in long-term improvement in patient outcomes.