Low-Value Colorectal Cancer Screening

Abstract

Screening has been shown to reduce colorectal cancer mortality; however, despite strong recommendations from multiple national organizations, screening uptake in the United States remains less than the goal of 80%. 1 Thus, there has been much effort to increase screening uptake.

The Impact of the Coronavirus Disease-19 Pandemic on Access to Endoscopy Procedures in the VA Healthcare System

“…Thus, it is imperative that the VA optimize its supply of endoscopic resources while continuing to work to shape the demand, as discussed. As a part of that effort to shape the demand, some VA facilities are building infrastructure to support programmatic noninvasive colorectal cancer screening, such as through mailed FIT, 18 , 19 , 20 which has been shown to be associated with significant benefits in the Kaiser Permanent system. 21 …”

Racial Disparities in Colorectal Cancer Mortality: the Role of Endoscopy Wait-Time and Stage at Diagnosis

“…This likely reflects a growing body of literature suggesting that endoscopic evaluation among older adults with comorbidities, limited life expectancy and previous normal endoscopic evaluation may cause more harm than benefit. [23,24] Additionally, decreased endoscopic evaluation in older patients may be due to Medicare cost-sharing requirements [25] and time needed to coordinate care given comorbidities. According to a report by the Kaiser Family Foundation, AA Medicare beneficiaries compared to White Medicare beneficiaries, were less likely to visit an office-based physician (71% vs. 80%) but more likely to have an inpatient stay (21% vs. 19%) and visit the emergency room (37% vs. 28%).…”