2021 NCCRT Annual Meeting & 80% in Every Community Conference to go Virtual

We hope you are already saving the date for NCCRT’s 25th Annual Meeting and second 80% in Every Community Conference November 15-17, 2021, which will be held virtually again this year. While we will miss seeing you in person for the second year in a row, we are looking forward to bringing together even more colorectal cancer screening champions from across the country for three afternoons of dynamic presentations and discussions.

We are expanding our agenda to include more time for panels and concurrent sessions with national, regional, and local thought leaders, as well as more time for small group discussion and networking. Please hold the afternoons of November 15-17 from 1:00-4:30 PM ET and we will share the working agenda, registration, and more information in this newsletter and on the event webpage in the coming weeks.

NCCRT Welcomes a New Co-Director!

Kaitlin Sylvester, MPA, joins the NCCRT team as co-director, NCCRT – Programs and Partnerships. In this role, Kaitlin will primarily oversee and support the NCCRT Strategic Priority Teams, which includes building and maintaining key relationships with external partners, managing tasks and contributions of coalition members, and providing strategic input to guide projects to completion. Kaitlin will also lead the NCCRT’s activities in engaging and supporting comprehensive cancer control programs across the nation to prioritize colorectal cancer screening efforts. Previously, Kaitlin served as Senior Manager for Cancer Control Strategic Partnerships with the American Cancer Society in the South Region where she led a team charged with implementing state and system-based programs, initiatives, and events to advance prevention, early detection, and quality of life measures across the cancer continuum. Kaitlin received her Master’s in Public Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Louisiana State University and currently serves on the Louisiana State University Department of Public Administration Advisory Board. In her spare time, Kaitlin enjoys running, baking bread and spending time with her husband and elderly dachshund. Kaitlin is located in New Orleans, Louisiana.

We are thrilled for Kaitlin to join the NCCRT team and hope you will have the opportunity to get to know her soon!

Opportunity to Comment on Proposed Addition of CRC Screening to the 2022 Medicaid Core Set

In May the Medicaid Child and Adult Core Set Annual Review Workgroup met to make recommendations for changes to the Child and Adult Core Sets for 2022 and voted unanimously to recommend adding colorectal cancer screening as a quality measure.

The Workgroup’s draft report, Recommendations for Improving the Core Sets of Health Care Quality Measures for Medicaid and CHIP: Summary of a Multistakeholder Review of the 2022 Child and Adult Core Sets, has now been released for public comment ahead of the final report and release of the final 2022 Core Sets by December 31, 2021.

Public comments may be submitted via email to [email protected] by 8:00 PM ET on Friday, August 6, 2021. Please include “2022 Core Set Review Public Comment” in the subject line and specify whether you are commenting as an individual or on behalf of an organization.

Thank you to the members of the NCCRT Policy Action Strategic Priority Team and partners that helped pave the way for this major milestone in tracking and reporting on CRC screening! Additionally, Margaret Hitchcock and Stony Anderson of the California Colorectal Cancer Coalition (C4) have generously offered to share a sample email developed to support the addition of the measure, which you are welcome to use and adapt.

Upcoming NCCRT Member Events

• Registration is now open for the rescheduled Western CRC Consortium Conference (WC4) – Oct.14-15, 2021 (in person!) at UC Davis Conference Center. For all conference information, visit the event website. The Agenda is located under the Schedule link.
• The American Cancer Society and the Mayo Clinic are partnering to host a free webinar on early age onset colorectal cancer on July 13, 2021 from 1:15-2:00 PM ET. Lisa A. Boardman, MD, will cover updates to national guidelines for patients at average risk, review criteria for earlier screening for patients at higher risk and discuss different approaches to t
• reatment based on early onset and how these cancers have been staged.

Relevant Journal Articles, Publications, & Other News

• Congratulations to former NCCRT Steering Committee member and current Community Health Centers Strategic Priority Team co-chair Jim Hotz, MD, MACP, for his recent recognition as the recipient of the American College of Physician’s 2020-2021 Ralph O. Claypoole Sr. Memorial Award for Devotion of a Career in Internal Medicine to the Care of Patients.
• Sugar-sweetened beverage intake in adulthood and adolescence and risk of early-onset colorectal cancer among women, published in the journal Gut, found that higher sugar-sweetened beverage intake in adulthood and adolescence was associated with a higher risk of early onset colorectal cancer among women. The New York Times also reported on the story.
• Findings from a study led by NCCRT Steering Committee member Beverly Green, MD, MPH, A Centralized Program with Stepped Support Increases Adherence to Colorectal Cancer Screening Over 9 Years: a Randomized Trial, published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, found that an outreach program that included mailed fecal tests and phone follow-up led to increased adherence to colorectal cancer testing and fewer age-eligible individuals without any colorectal cancer testing over nine years.
• A recent Stat News story, Chadwick Boseman’s tragedy is America’s tragedy: In colorectal cancer hot spots, young men are dying at higher rates, describes recent research on “hot spots” for early onset colorectal cancer mortality and trends in later stage diagnosis for Black men.
• A recent article in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, Screening for Colorectal Cancer in the United States: Correlates and Time Trends by Type of Test, found that after age-standardization to the 2010 census population, the percentage up-to-date with colorectal cancer screening increased from 61.2% in 2015 to 65.3% in 2018, driven by increased use of stool testing.
• In Cancer Screenings Are Still Lagging, updated EHR data from Epic Health Research Network finds colorectal cancer screenings were 25% below historical baselines between March 2020 and March 2021, which equates to an estimated 249,000 missed screenings.
• A new study finds evidence for adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on declines in cancer detection and surgical treatments, including colorectal cancer detection. Association of the COVID-19 Pandemic with Patterns of Statewide Cancer Services, appearing in JNCI: The Journal of the National Cancer Institute, finds a 10.2% decline in real-time electronic pathology reports from population-based cancer registries in 2020 compared with those in 2019.
• U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Update and Computed Tomography for Colorectal Cancer Screening Among Privately Insured Population, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, found the release of supportive evidence-based recommendations by a recognized credible body was associated with an immediate increase in computed tomography colonography use for colorectal cancer screening in the privately insured population.