Efficacy of a "contact center-based communication" in optimizing the care of inflammatory bowel diseases

Telephone helplines are a useful vehicle for the management of chronic diseases even though data on how these can ease management of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is still scarce.

to analyze our two-years' experience with the first telephone helpline dedicated to IBD in Italy.

The main outcomes of using a contact center (CC) at our Unit were analyzed; all data was prospectively collected. Patients' requests were classified into medical or non-medical. The percentage of hospitalized patients in the pre-CC period was compared to that after CC activation, to assess the potential clinical gain of using CC. The calls were divided into 5 categories to evaluate a potential correlation between patients' number of calls and risk of hospitalization.

The CC received 11,080 calls and handled 11,972 requests. In particular, 63% of patients phoned monthly for a medical consultation, and 37% called for non-medical reasons. In 2012, the followed-up patients were 1658 with 230 IBD-caused hospitalizations (14%); in 2014, the followed-up patients were 1962 with 182 hospitalizations (9%) (p<0.01). The risk of hospitalization exponentially increased with the number of calls: from 3% for 0-5 calls to 41% with >30 calls (p<0.01).

A dedicated CC could provide additional clinical gain, care, and support for IBD patients.