The American College of Gastroenterology (ACG), the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA), and the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation (Foundation), in partnership with Pfizer, Inc., have announced the results of a request for proposal (RFP) to address vaccine utilization, promote health maintenance, and increase preventive care services in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD).
“Applicants were encouraged to design programs or initiatives that explore or address gaps in vaccine utilization and/or communication amongst providers related to the RFP topic,” noted Francis A. Farraye, MD, MSc, FACG, AGAF, director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center at Boston Medical Center and Professor of Medicine at the Boston University School of Medicine, who chairs the steering committee for the partnership between ACG, AGA, and the Foundation. “These projects were selected for their potential to overcome barriers by helping to identify and establish best practices around improving vaccine utilization and preventive health maintenance for patients with IBD. The selected projects also have the potential to be easily replicated, broadly disseminated, and widely adopted within the IBD community.”
The total funding related to this RFP is over $1 million, made possible through Pfizer Global Medical Grants. The awarded projects are:
Improving Vaccine Utilization and Preventive Health Maintenance in IBD
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Project lead: Gil Y. Melmed, MD, FACG, AGAF
- This proposal seeks to understand barriers to the uptake of preventive health measures among patients with IBD through patient focus groups; develop dynamic web-based interventions, including an interactive web site with animated video content, to overcome those challenges; and then test those interventions with a randomized, controlled trial in IBD Partners Patient-Powered Research Network. The primary outcome will be influenza vaccination uptake; secondary outcomes will include uptake of other recommendations including pneumococcal and zoster vaccination, bone health assessment, and skin cancer screening. If successful, these interventions will be freely promoted to optimize uptake in existing patient-education sites including You&IBD, IBD&Me, and IBD Partners.
- As part of the project to improve patient health, vaccination rates, and preventive services, educational interventions to health care professionals (HCPs) and patients are essential for change. Outside the clinic, digital health coaching presents the opportunity to supplement and support patient education, reinforcing the need to complete all necessary vaccinations among a group of 100 patients. Patient reported outcomes and feedback will be collected to assess improvements in vaccination and preventive health literacy, improvements in communication with providers, and shared decision-making.
- The project goal is to develop and validate the use of patient-centered digital medicine technology to improve vaccination rates and preventive health compliance among IBD patients by developing a comprehensive intervention that includes self-assessment tracking as well as shared decision making. The overarching aim is to create a digital vaccination module for IBD patients and content for provider workshops that can serve as a freely available national resource for IBD centers, IBD practitioners, national organizations, and patients.
