ABSTRACT
Introduction: The need for safe and effective remote monitoring of patients with IBD is greater than ever. The digital platform MyIBD Care™ (comprising patient-facing digital therapeutic and clinician portal) was introduced into two London hospitals in 2020. The platform permits communication between patient and clinician, education and coaching modules developed with healthcare professionals, live Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) completion, and care-pathway automation. We conducted a real-world case-control study (service evaluation) to assess the feasibility and safety of replacing face-to-face appointments with the digital platform, in a cohort of stable patients with IBD. Aims & Methods: We conducted a real-world case-control study (service evaluation) to assess the feasibility and safety of replacing face-to-face appointments with the digital platform, in a cohort of stable patients with IBD. Patients meeting criteria of diagnosis >12m duration and on stable treatment in remission for >4m prior to approach were enrolled at King's College (KCH) and Royal London hospital (RLH) to participate in a service evaluation. Patients were prompted to routinely submit PROMs through their mobile application for clinicians to review and take appropriate action when required. The patient-initiated follow-up/messaging service, educational videos and articles library (with user prompts to access) were used ad libitum. Healthcare utilisation and PROMs data was collected prospectively while patients used the platform (period 2) and data was collected for the same patients in the 12 months preceding use (pre-covid). Results: n=286 patients were enrolled across the two sites (n=190 at KCH and n=96 at RLH). Disease activity scores measured by the IBD-Control remained consistent throughout both periods, indicating that remote monitoring did not negatively impact disease activity (p=0.28), while outpatient contacts fell significantly in period 2 (mean 4.79 vs 2.56 appointments per patient, p=0.01 by paired t-test). At KCH there were 18 admissions in 14 patients in period 1, which dropped to 4 admissions in 2 patients for the same group of patients, in period 2 (p=0.0001). Conclusion: The use of My IBD Care app and clinical portal is a safe and effective way to remotely manage patients with stable IBD: allowing fewer appointments, yielding in cost savings for healthcare without incurring worsening disease activity and possibly reducing the rate of hospital admission (in this small cohort). Future work aims to expand the system to additional hospitals and other disease areas.