Reaching Beyond Delivery System Walls To Improve Colorectal Cancer Screening

Conclusion Screening rates are a product of two factors: offer rates and uptake/completion rates. With our FIT campaign we have made strides in both areas. With tools built into our EHR, we can now identify and offer tests to nearly 100 percent of the eligible population, practically with the touch of a button. At the same time, patient uptake of testing has improved dramatically, despite the fact that FIT screening must be done every year, instead of the five- and ten-year intervals required for sigmoidoscopy and colonoscopy, respectively. We believe the increased uptake is a testament to what happens when we “make the right thing easy to do,” for both doctors and patients. The test is easy; we put it directly into patients’ homes via their mailboxes and we keep it top-of-mind with multiple communications. We don’t (yet) have the technology to make all screening or primary care services this “easy,” but our experience with CRC screening gives us something to aspire to as we think about more efficient and effective ways of caring for our population. There is a cost associated with our CRC screening outreach and inreach, but our capitated payment model enables us to direct resources toward these activities. Many value-based payment arrangements provide similar flexibility for delivery systems to invest in this type of outreach and inreach. As more and more delivery systems participate in payment arrangements that make them responsible for enrolled or attributed pop...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - Category: Health Management Authors: Tags: Featured Health Policy Lab Innovations in Care Delivery Organization and Delivery Population Health capitated payment model Colorectal Cancer Screening electronic health record fecal immunochemical test Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Source Type: blogs