SEFH’s workgroup on immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (GTEII) was created in March 2018 under the leadership of our colleague Joaquin Borras Blasco, a hospital pharmacist from Sagunto Hospital. The idea to create a specific workgroup for immune-mediated inflammatory diseases came about as a result of the MAPEX Project, which emphasized the need to provide patients with such diseases with the pharmaceutical care they need, which often involves administration of biologic therapies. This heterogeneous group of conditions includes rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, psoriasis, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthropathy, hidradenitis suppurativa and atopic dermatitis just to name a few.
In Spain, over 2.5 million people are affected by immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, which are typically serious diseases associated with high chronicity and morbidity rates often resulting in disability and a reduction in patients’ quality of life. It must be taken into consideration that the disease mainly affects young adults of working age, who see how their personal and work lives are suddenly disrupted. The disease also represents a heavy burden for the health system particularly as a result of the direct costs associated with an intensive use of healthcare resources and the indirect costs caused by the loss of on-the-job productivity.
Immune-mediated inflammatory diseases are often treated by specialists from different areas of expertise. At present, there being no established clinical itineraries for the management of these conditions, the various hospitals have developed their own strategies. This fragmented care model makes it difficult to approach patients in a holistic way and results in interruptions in the care continuum. It is therefore necessary to develop a new operational care model that not only secures a well-planned participation of different specialties, but also ensures that the practitioners involved have the training and coordination required to treat patients with these conditions. However, although it is true that immune-mediated inflammatory diseases represent a significant organizational challenge, they also constitute an opportunity for the health system.