Inova Fairfax Hospital for Children Part of National Network That Advances Treatment of Digestive Diseases

New Study Shows That “ImproveCareNow” Program Dramatically Improves Health of Children

Falls Church, VA – (November 16, 2009) – Inova Fairfax Hospital for Children is proud to be a founding member of ImproveCareNow, a quality improvement collaborative of healthcare providers that enables children’s hospitals from across the country to systematically collect and share data about the latest treatment methods and their effectiveness.

ImproveCareNow released a study Friday that shows how this surprisingly easy and low-cost system of sharing treatment information dramatically improves the health of children with digestive diseases, specifically Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. The study also reports a striking increase in the number of patients in remission.

“Through collaboration, information sharing and data collection with analysis, we have been able to offer consistent, advanced care,” said Ian Liebowitz, MD, Director, Pediatric Digestive Diseases Center, Inova Fairfax Hospital for Children. “To improve outcomes, we emphasize the use of quality improvement methods and best practices.”

The preliminary data released Friday show that under the ImproveCareNow program, the percentage of patients in remission from Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis increased more than 20 percent during a 27-month period.

An estimated 1 million people in the U.S. have Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, which are due to chronic inflammation of the intestinal tract. Ten percent of them – about 100,000 – are children under the age of 18. Children with these diseases often suffer from abdominal pain, diarrhea, poor appetite and weight loss, and struggle to lead active lives.

Though ImproveCareNow currently focuses on Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, program proponents believe that the model could easily be used for care with other chronic conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease and arthritis.

“ImproveCareNow represents an entirely new model to speed discoveries into practice, by harnessing the motivation and collective intelligence of the physicians, care teams and families,” said Patrick Conway, MD, Chief Medical Officer, OS/ASPE, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “Healthcare reform depends on innovative programs like these that can produce improved outcomes for patients.”

ImproveCareNow was a pilot program of the American Board of Pediatrics, aimed at enabling physicians to improve care-delivery systems. The not-for-profit alliance currently is supported by 19 participating hospitals, as well as such organizations as the U.S. Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, and the Centers for Education and Research in Therapeutics.

“Inova Fairfax Hospital for Children was one nine hospitals that helped found ImproveCareNow. That number has since expanded, and we hope to see continued expansion,” said Dr. Leibowitz.

Please click on the following links for more information about Inova’s Pediatric Digestive Diseases Center and the ImproveCareNow program.

Inova Health System is a not-for-profit healthcare system based in Northern Virginia that consists of hospitals and other health services, including emergency- and urgent-care centers, home care, nursing homes, mental health and blood donor services, and wellness classes. Governed by a voluntary board of community members, Inova’s mission is to improve the health of the diverse community it serves through excellence in patient care, education and research. Inova provides a healthy environment for its patients, families, visitors, staff and physicians by prohibiting tobacco use on its campuses.