Cure8 research brief
If you or your child has pediatric-onset IBD, much of the care that supports disease management happens between scheduled visits. Recognizing this workload matters for access, clinician time, and policies that affect support services and reimbursement.
Parents and caregivers of pediatric IBD patients; pediatric gastroenterology clinicians and clinic managers; health system planners and researchers interested in care delivery and digital health.
This study reviewed electronic health record data for 226 children and young adults with IBD to quantify care delivered outside face-to-face visits — things like patient portal messages, phone encounters, and clinician review of results.
The authors found a large rise in between-visit events around diagnosis (median ~64 events in the year after diagnosis) that remained elevated during follow-up, and higher disease activity was strongly linked to more between-visit workload.
These findings suggest that a substantial portion of pediatric IBD care is “invisible” to typical utilization measures that count only clinic visits, ED visits, and procedures. The paper highlights implications for staffing, reimbursement, and digital tools to manage this workload.
Single-center retrospective EHR study; counts reflect documented messages/encounters and may vary by portal use and local practice. The paper quantifies workload but does not test solutions.
Review the original publication for the complete reporting, methods, and context.
This Cure8 brief is based on source text from the linked article. Cure8 is informational only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
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