P028 URGENT MEDICAL ACCESS FOR PATIENTS WITH INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE AT A PRIVATE COMMUNITY GASTROENTEROLOGY PRACTICE

Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have chronic, life-long diseases with relapsing-remitting pattern that often require frequent utilization of healthcare services.[1] Urgent access to specialty care can help identify patients with acute medical needs so they can receive appropriate care in a timely manner. This can avoid unnecessary high-cost medical interventions, such as visits to the emergency department (ED), which often lead to excess use of steroids, narcotics, and radiographic imaging, all important measures of quality of IBD care.[2] We sought to introduce an access/quality improvement program at a private gastroenterology practice with the goal of triaging and returning urgent calls from IBD patients in a timely manner and mitigate avoidable visits to the ED.

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