Rockford Gastroenterology Associates Becomes One of the First Clinics in the Nation to Treat Chronic GI Disorders with New Patient Engagement Platform

Program helps patients with Crohn's and ulcerative colitis report health issues between doctor visits

Rockford Gastroenterology Associates (RGA) has partnered with SonarMD to better monitor patients with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis (collectively known as inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD) between visits.

RGA is one of only a handful of selected gastrointestinal groups across the country invited to participate in SonarMD, a platform where patients with IBD can respond to health assessment surveys on their mobile devices using a secure, Web-based application, and RGA clinicians can respond to their needs more easily between appointments.

"We are excited to use SonarMD to enhance the care of our patients, particularly as we work to manage their IBD outside of our clinic," said Dr. Ilche Nonevski, a board-certified gastroenterologist at Rockford Gastroenterology Associates and physician lead for SonarMD. "We know that closer monitoring of patients with IBD can decrease hospitalizations and improve their health outcomes. The user-friendly platform of SonarMD can help us do just that."

SonarMD uses nationally recognized, evidenced-based guidelines to apply a Patient Reported Outcomes score to each survey submitted by a patient, which alerts physicians to potential downward trends in the person’s condition. This gives physicians an opportunity to intervene earlier with issues that present, resulting in fewer hospitalizations and overall enhanced patient care outcomes.

RGA is part of a national SonarMD platform roll-out which includes some of the nation’s most well-respected practices specializing in inflammatory bowel disease, which affects more than 1 million Americans, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. SonarMD also has sophisticated analytics capabilities that allow physicians to use the collective data generated by patient input over time to create better, evidence-based care plans.