Registration is Open for Tuesday, November 28th Webinar on Colorectal Cancer Screening in American Indian & Alaska Native Communities

Join us on Tuesday, November 28th at 2:00pm ET for an NCCRT webinar, in which we will explore CRC screening in American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities. This webinar will provide a brief overview of the NCCRT and ACS’s April 2016 summit on CRC and AI/AN communities and describe ACS’s recent grants to increase screening for AI/AN-serving primary care clinics. We will also hear from two AI/AN-serving organizations that are implementing innovative strategies to increase CRC screening in the communities they serve. Speakers will include: Laura Makaroff of ACS, Jessica Deaton of the Oklahoma City Indian Clinic, and Richard Mousseau of the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Health Board. Registration is now open.

The webinar is open to NCCRT members, 80% by 2018 partners, CDC grantees, ACS Health Systems and Communications staff, and new partners interested in getting engaged in colorectal cancer screening efforts. You must be registered to join the webinar.

Today at 11:00am ET:  Learn More about NCI Funding Opportunities: Accelerating Colorectal Cancer Screening and follow-up through Implementation Science

As we previously shared, NCI has released two companion funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) associated with the Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot^SM Initiative intended to accelerate cancer research:

(1) Accelerating Colorectal Cancer Screening and follow-up through Implementation Science (ACCSIS) (UG3/UH3) [RFA-CA-17-038] and

(2) Accelerating Colorectal Cancer Screening and follow-up through Implementation Science (ACCSIS) Coordinating Center (U24) [RFA-CA-17-039]. 

The FOA will promote research in colorectal cancer (CRC) screening, follow-up, and referral-to-care among target populations for whom screening rates are below national standards. This research will provide an evidence base for multilevel interventions that increase rates of CRC screening, follow-up, and referral-to-care, and best practices for how multilevel interventions can be scaled-up to reduce the burden of colorectal cancer on the United States (U.S.) population.

A pre-application webinar is scheduled for today, Friday, November 17th at 11:00am ET. Registration is required.  Application Due Date: January 18, 2018 by 5:00pm local time of applicant organization. Many thanks to Sarah Shafir for bringing this webinar to our attention!

Tell us What you Think About 80% by 2018

The NCCRT has launched a brief survey to get advice on where the 80% by 2018 colorectal cancer screening initiative goes from here.  As we move into 2018, we are as committed as ever to acting with urgency to do what it takes to achieve an 80% colorectal cancer screening rate.  To help us reach our goals, we need your help!  We’d like your thoughts and input on the initiative and your recommendations for where to go from here. To take the survey, visit the NCCRT Beyond 2018 FAQ web page and click on the orange button.

Let us know what you think – and please encourage your partners and colleagues to do the same. The survey will close on Monday, Nov. 27.

Welcome to New NCCRT Members!

We are pleased to announce the addition of three new NCCRT Member organizations: Montana Primary Care Association, which will be represented by Courtney Buys; HeathPartners, which will be represented by Anne Book; and the American Association of Medical Assistants, which will be represented by Donald Balasa and Deborah Novak.  Please join me in extending a warm welcome to these new NCCRT Members!

New Resource on Coalition Branding from the Comprehensive Cancer Control National Partners:

A new resource on Cancer Coalition Identity and Branding from the Comprehensive Cancer Control National Partnership is now available.  This brief is designed to present actions that can be taken by a cancer coalition to garner the attention and support of the public.  The brief provides guidance in developing a unique identity, creating a strong brand, and preparing clear marketing messages.  Embedded within the document is a link to a related webinar.   Congratulations to Lorrie Graaf and Sarah Shafir for their work on this new resource!

Call for 80% by 2018 Manuscripts!

The American Journal of Gastroenterology has issued a call for manuscripts for their upcoming special issue, “80% by 2018 Colorectal Cancer Initiative:  Did We Make It?”  As you all know, in 2014, we proposed an ambitious national goal to screen 80% of all eligible U.S. adults for colorectal cancer (CRC) by 2018. Well, 2018 is just about here. Did we make it? Where did we succeed and what can we still improve? The American Journal of Gastroenterology requests your original research and insightful reviews about the current state of colorectal cancer screening and prevention.  The manuscript deadline is January 15^th, 2018.  Visit this flyer for more information.

NCCRT Annual Meeting Invitations are Out!

By now, NCCRT members should have received a personalized invitation to this year’s NCCRT Annual Meeting, which will be held on Dec. 6^th, 7^th and 8^th in Bethesda, MD at the DoubleTree Hilton.  The invitation should have arrived in an email from the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable.  If you did not receive this invitation, please check your spam filter, and then email [email protected].  You can review the 2017 NCCRT annual meeting agenda here.  Pre-conference activities, including the Task Group meetings, will occur on Dec. 6^th.  Note that members are responsible for their own travel and lodging costs, but members are able to reserve a room in the rooming block during the registration process.  If you would like to request a room in the block, we suggest registering as soon as possible.   We look forward to seeing you there!

NCCRT Member Organizational Reports are Due December 1^st, 2017

It’s that time of year!  We know our members are doing great work, and we want to hear about it!  In preparation for this year’s annual meeting of the NCCRT, members are requested to provide a brief summary of organizational activities focused on colorectal cancer screening since the last NCCRT meeting.  New this year, we will be posting the reports to nccrt.org (with your permission), so please plan accordingly.  We will only be accepting forms here, but please let us know if you would like a Word copy to help organize your response.  Only one response is needed per organization, so please coordinate with your colleagues who are also active in the NCCRT.

These reports will be shared with all members to allow us to see activities underway that contribute to our shared life-saving mission. Please fill out the report online no later than close of business Friday, December 1st.

Join ACS on Thursday, November 30th Webinar on Employer Strategies to Increase Colorectal Cancer Screening

Join us on Thursday, November 30th at 2:00pm ET for an ACS webinar on how employers can impact their employees’ health through colorectal cancer screening interventions. The webinar will begin with a brief introduction to steps employers can take to increase screening rates at their company and then feature three corporate partners who have implemented effective strategies. Speakers will include presenters from Ameren, AT&T, and Progressive Insurance. Advance registration is not required. Save the date and follow this link to join the webinar via Webex on November 30^th.

The webinar is open to ACS staff, NCCRT members, 80% by 2018 partners, CDC grantees, and new partners interested in getting engaged in colorectal cancer screening efforts.

Relevant Journal Articles

Here are recent relevant articles/studies that may be of interest:

• A CDC study appeared in Preventive Medicine that estimates the health benefits and cost-savings for achieving the Healthy People 2020 objective of reducing invasive colorectal cancer.  Achieving the HP2020 objective of reducing invasive CRC incidence by 15% by year 2020 would potentially save nearly 150,000 life-years and $624 million on healthcare costs.  Congratulations to the study authors on this publication!
• A study published in Gastroenterology, reinforces the importance of equitable health insurance coverage to mitigate the black-white survival disparity in colorectal cancer. For the study, investigators, focused on the impact of access to care on black-white survival disparity. They found the absolute 5-year survival difference between black and white CRC patients in the entire cohort was 9.2% (57.3% vs 66.5%). That difference was cut almost in half, to 4.9%, after matching for insurance status. Tumor characteristics also played a large role. The survival difference dropped to 2.3% after tumor characteristics matching.  Congratulations to the study authors for this important article.
• Fight Colorectal Cancer (Fight CRC) and the Cancer Research Institute (CRI), published A Blueprint to Advance Colorectal Cancer Immunotherapies in the November 2017 issue of the journal Cancer Immunology Research. Study authors propose a framework for research to identify immunologic factors that may be modulated to improve immunotherapy for CRC patients, with the goal that the biomarkers and treatment strategies identified will become part of the routine management of CRC.  Thank you to Danielle Burgess for bringing this article to our attention, and congratulations to our Fight CRC friends Andi Dwyer, Nancy Roach, Anjee Davis, Keavy McAbee, Sharyn Worrall, as well as to the other authors.
• A new study, Comparing cancer screening estimates: Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and National Health Interview Survey paper is now available in Preventive Medicine.  The paper states that each survey has a unique and important role in providing information to track cancer screening utilization among various populations, and that awareness of these differences and their potential causes is important when comparing the surveys and determining the best application for each data source.Thank you to Stacey Fedewa for sharing this article with us, and congratulations to NCCRT friends, Ann Goding, Becky Siegel, and Stacey Fedewa, as well as the other authors!

Colon Cancer Alliance is Now the Colorectal Cancer Alliance

NCCRT member, the Colon Cancer Alliance, has a new name: the Colorectal Cancer Alliance.  The name change reflects an intention to address the needs of those affected by colon and rectal cancer alike — to provide support services, to raise awareness of preventive measures, and to inspire efforts to fund critical research.  Visit their website for more information.

Awards and Honors

80% by 2018 Recognized by MM&M.  Our own Dr. Richard Wender received an award last month from Medical Marketing & Media for Outstanding Contribution to Healthcare for leading the national 80% by 2018 campaign. Here’s a link to learn more: http://www.mmm-online.com/mmm-awards/platinum-award-outstanding-contribution-to-healthcare-in-2017/article/696165/   Congratulations to Dr. Wender!

Award Winning Evaluation Team Recognized by CDC.  An evaluation team from CDC’s Division of Cancer Prevention and Control was given the 2017 award for “Best Evaluation, Peer Reviewed” at CDC in September. The team won for an evaluation of a patient navigation program that was pioneered by a Colorectal Cancer Control Program grantee, the New Hampshire Colorectal Cancer Screening Program (NHCRCSP). The multi-year evaluation showed that patients in the navigation program were, among other things, 11 times more likely than non-navigated patients to complete a colonoscopy. The team worked with NHCRCSP to write a manual showing other organizations how to put patient navigation in place for their screening programs.  Congratulations to Amy DeGroff and our other CDC friends for this outstanding recognition! Additionally, Lynn Butterly of NHCRCSP will be leading a workshop on the manual at the NCCRT meeting next month!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!  Many thanks to all of you for the good work you do!