UICC World Cancer Congress 2006

Objective: The American Cancer Society, in partnership with the Western New York Public Health Alliance and many other health, community and professional organizations, launched this initiative earlier this year. Nearly 1,200 people in Western New York are diagnosed each year with colorectal cancer and more than 400 die from the disease.

Methods: The colorectal cancer screening initiative includes the following components: 1 - Pilot projects in area worksites to test interventions and incentives to increase colorectal cancer screening rates among employees. 2 - Pilot projects in primary care practices to test interventions and incentives to increase colorectal cancer screening rates among patients. 3 - Worksite and health professional conferences to share the results of the pilot projects, discuss best practices, and present the latest in prevention, detection and treatment of colon cancer from specialists in the field. 4 - Surveillance and evaluation in cooperation with the School of Public Health at SUNY Buffalo.

Results: The initiative is designed to test strategies to increase colorectal cancer screening rates in the region's eight counties. Interventions include direct interventions with primary care providers, as well as strategies to encourage residents in the target populations to initiate conversations with their physicians about colorectal cancer screening. These secondary strategies include the use of mass media and interventions in worksites. We will measure our success by the extent to which the tested interventions increase screening rates and provide us with proven strategies to implement on a larger scale.