June 8th, 2017 :: Author: Emily Bell, MPH, NCCRT Associate Director

The NCCRT team loves to tell the story about how at the launch of the 80% by 2018 initiative in March of 2014 we set a goal to have 50 organizations sign the 80% by 2018 pledge. Little did we know that eventually we’d have over 1500 organizations sign the pledge and engage in the process. With that type of momentum and reach, we realized that we needed to take a thoughtful approach to learning about how you, our partners, were supporting the 80% by 2018 goal and how we in turn could better support your efforts. The idea for the 80% by 2018 Partner Survey was born.

Each fall, the 80% by 2018 Partner Survey is sent to NCCRT’s 100+ member organizations and hundreds of 80% by 2018 pledged partners. A diverse group of organizations respond, including hospitals, health systems, community health centers, non-profit organizations, health departments, employers, and academic institutions. We now have two years of survey data that showcase your efforts.

Survey respondents are asked to detail their involvement in seven different categories related to colorectal cancer screening, including public- and patient-oriented activities, partnerships and collaboration, and systems change efforts. One of the most exciting findings is that in both 2015 and 2016 more than two thirds of pledged organizations indicated that that they launched, expanded, or intensified their colorectal cancer screening activities after getting involved in the 80% by 2018 initiative and more than half have plans for more.

And the data shows that these increased activities are beginning to show dividends. Of the organizations that track their screening rate, nearly half reported increases in both 2015 and 2016.

Our survey also underscores the point that evidence-based interventions work. Top responses to the question “To what do you attribute your success in increasing your screening rate?” include patient/member reminders and recall and offering patients/members a choice of stool test or colonoscopy. And when we asked respondents to elaborate on the keys to success several themes emerged, including the importance of screening navigation, taking a team-based approach to recommend screening, and use of the fecal immunochemical test (FIT).

Of course, one of the reasons we conducted the survey is because we always want to be doing better to support your efforts. We were glad to learn that we already had resources in the pipeline to address some requests, such as requests for best practices used by insurers (new handbook for health plans), advice on engaging celebrities (new tip sheet on engaging celebrity ambassadors), and guidance on improving data collection and reporting with particular electronic health record systems (existing guidance for eClinicalWorks and new tool for NextGen slated for this summer). We are exploring ways to address our partners’ additional requests, including support for regional consortiums, new data and statistics (the ACS Cancer Statistics Center and our data on 80% by 2018 impact by state are two great places to start), and advice for locating providers that are willing to donate colonoscopies (find helpful tips in our 2015 webinar profiling the Links of Care pilots and save the date for our upcoming July 27th webinar update).

This is just a small snapshot of all that we’ve learned from the first two years of this survey. I encourage you to take a look at the 2016 80 by 2018 Partner Survey Highlights Report to learn more.

Finally, I’d like to thank our colleagues at the American Cancer Society Statistics & Evaluation Center who programmed and conducted the survey, and last but not least, a HUGE thank you to NCCRT’s members and 80% by 2018 pledged partners who generously shared their time by completing the survey. Please keep an eye out for the 2017 survey early this fall. We are eager to learn about your efforts over the past year and how we can better support you in our final push toward 80% by 2018!