Clinical trial NCT03239704: Improving Outcomes Among Urgent Care Clinic Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Official title: Improving Outcomes Among Urgent Care Clinic Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease (URGENT-IBD)
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: UNKNOWN
Phase: NA
Conditions: Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Ulcerative Colitis
Crohn Disease
Keywords: Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Ulcerative Colitis
Crohn Disease
Quality Improvement
Telemedicine
Lead sponsor: Mount Sinai Hospital, Canada
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Crohn's and Colitis Canada
First posted: 2017-08-04
Enrollment: 450
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Brief summary: Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) refers to a category of disorders, consisting of Crohn's Disease (CD) and Ulcerative Colitis (UC), where segments of the gastrointestinal tract become inflamed and ulcerated. Canada has among the highest incidence rates of IBD in the world - 16.3 and 12.3 per 100,000 for CD and UC respectively. In the absence of a cure, the current goal of treatment is to manage patients in a milder state of remission. However, maintaining (or even achieving) remission is dependent on timely access to specialist IBD care; which in light of rising incidence rates have proven to be challenging. Moreover, patients often experience flare-ups of their gastrointestinal symptoms, while awaiting access to specialist care. In recent years, there has been increased integration of telemedicine services in gastroenterology practice. This change has been driven by a desire among IBD patients to have more flexible follow-up care, where 'virtual' care is provided as an adjunct to in-person consultations. Within the context of IBD, telemedicine might be effective in delivering routine and timely follow-up care to high-risk patients. The purpose of this study to determine whether telemedicine-based follow-up care can effectively manage the gastrointestinal symptoms of high-risk IBD patients and reduce their need for preventive health care services.

Detailed description: Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) refers to a category of disorders, consisting of Crohn's Disease (CD) and Ulcerative Colitis (UC), where segments of the gastrointestinal tract become inflamed and ulcerated. Canada has among the highest incidence rates of IBD in the world - 16.3 and 12.3 per 100,000 for CD and UC respectively. Moreover, IBD care spans a broad range of inpatient, outpatient, and emergency services; which vary across populations due to the heterogeneous nature of these conditions. The economic burden of IBD in Canada is estimated to be $2.8 billion per anum, where direct health care costs (i.e. medications, hospitalizations, physician visits) alone exceed $1.2 billion.

In the absence of a cure, the current goal of treatment is to manage patients in a milder state of remission. However, maintaining (or even achieving) remission is dependent on timely access to specialist IBD care; which in light of rising incidence rates have proven to be challenging. Wait times for gastroenterology care are currently in excess of guidelines outlined by the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology - Wait Times Consensus Group. Moreover, patients often experience flare-ups of their gastrointestinal symptoms, while awaiting access to specialist care.

In recent years, there has been increased integration of telemedicine services in gastroenterology practice. This change has been driven by a desire among IBD patients to have more flexible follow-up care, where 'virtual' care is provided as an adjunct to in-person consultations. Telemedicine is the process by which medical information is transferred between providers and patients through an electronic interface (i.e. two-way video, smartphone applications and secure messaging). Within the context of IBD, telemedicine might be effective in delivering routine and timely follow-up care to high-risk patients. It's also enticing to speculate that if telemedicine follow-up care can adequately manage the gastrointestinal symptoms of high-risk patients, then it may also reduce their need for preventive health care services and alleviate some of the economic burden associated with these conditions.

Therefore, the purpose of this study to determine whether telemedicine-based follow-up care can effectively manage the gastrointestinal symptoms of high-risk IBD patients and reduce their need for preventive health care services. As part of this study, we will attempt to recruit all IBD outpatients, who were seen at the Mount Sinai Hospital urgent care clinic. These are a subset of high-risk IBD patients, who often have moderate to severe exacerbations of their medical condition.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Ability to provide informed consent
* Confirmed diagnosis of Crohn's Disease or Ulcerative Colitis
* Recruited from an IBD urgent care clinic

Exclusion Criteria:

* Subjects who can't communicate in English
* Subjects who are read or write in English
* Subjects who lack internet access
* Subjects who lack access to a personal smartphone

Primary outcomes:
measure: Post-Appointment IBD related Hospital Admission
timeFrame: Within 30 days of study enrolment
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Post-Appointment IBD related Surgery
timeFrame: Within 30 days of study enrolment
measure: Patient Satisfaction with Health Care in IBD
timeFrame: At 30 days following study enrolment
measure: IBD related Quality of Life
timeFrame: At 30 days following study enrolment
measure: Disease Activity
timeFrame: At 30 days following study enrolment
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Toronto
country: Canada
facility: Mount Sinai Hospital
state: Ontario
Study officials:
affiliation: MOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL
name: Geoffrey C Nguyen
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Rocchi A, Benchimol EI, Bernstein CN, Bitton A, Feagan B, Panaccione R, Glasgow KW, Fernandes A, Ghosh S. Inflammatory bowel disease: a Canadian burden of illness review. Can J Gastroenterol. 2012 Nov;26(11):811-7. doi: 10.1155/2012/984575.
citation: Park MD, Bhattacharya J, Park K. Differences in healthcare expenditures for inflammatory bowel disease by insurance status, income, and clinical care setting. PeerJ. 2014 Sep 23;2:e587. doi: 10.7717/peerj.587. eCollection 2014.
citation: Novak K, Veldhuyzen Van Zanten S, Pendharkar SR. Improving access in gastroenterology: the single point of entry model for referrals. Can J Gastroenterol. 2013 Nov;27(11):633-5. doi: 10.1155/2013/519342. Epub 2013 Sep 13.
citation: Paterson WG, Depew WT, Pare P, Petrunia D, Switzer C, Veldhuyzen van Zanten SJ, Daniels S; Canadian Association of Gastroenterology Wait Time Consensus Group. Canadian consensus on medically acceptable wait times for digestive health care. Can J Gastroenterol. 2006 Jun;20(6):411-23. doi: 10.1155/2006/343686.
citation: Paterson WG, Barkun AN, Hopman WM, Leddin DJ, Pare P, Petrunia DM, Sewitch MJ, Switzer C, van Zanten SV. Wait times for gastroenterology consultation in Canada: the patients' perspective. Can J Gastroenterol. 2010 Jan;24(1):28-32. doi: 10.1155/2010/912970.
citation: Cross RK, Kane S. Integration of Telemedicine Into Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology Practice. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2017 Feb;15(2):175-181. doi: 10.1016/j.cgh.2016.09.011. Epub 2016 Dec 16. No abstract available.
citation: Kemp K, Griffiths J, Campbell S, Lovell K. An exploration of the follow-up up needs of patients with inflammatory bowel disease. J Crohns Colitis. 2013 Oct;7(9):e386-95. doi: 10.1016/j.crohns.2013.03.001. Epub 2013 Mar 27.