UICC World Cancer Congress 2006

* Objective: Increase colorectal cancer screening rates by utilizing a health systems approach in collaboration with primary care providers and administrators in office settings to implement tools and processes that will result in increased screening rates.

* Methods: The American Cancer Society funded a research study in the New England region during 2000-2002 to measure the effectiveness of providing tools and strategies directly to providers to increase colorectal cancer screening rates. Based on the success of this study the American Cancer Society is implementing an academic detailing project nationwide. This project entails visiting primary care practices to establish collaborative relationships with providers and office administrators to assess (1) the effectiveness of providers in communicating the importance of early detection of colorectal cancer to their patients and recommending colorectal screening, and (2) the ability and effectiveness of individual office systems to track patient compliance with recommended colorectal cancer screening methodologies. Both initiatives utilize provider tools to facilitate conversations between providers and patients regarding the importance of colorectal cancer screening and the identification of opportunities for improvements in office tracking systems to capture patient screening compliance.

* Results: The results of the 2000-2002 ACS study was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine (Improving Colorectal Cancer Screening Rates by Targeting Office Systems in Primary Care Practices, March 28, 2005, Wei et al.) and demonstrated a statistically significant increase in colorectal cancer screening rates as a result of office system interventions. Results, other than anecdotal are not available for the second project as it currently underway.