Hello NCCRT Members,

This week marks the start of March, Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, and we have lots of news to share.

One Week Out! Register for the 80% in Every Community Campaign

We hope you will join us on March 7th when the NCCRT, Fight Colorectal Cancer, the American Cancer Society, Mayo Clinic, Exact Sciences, and UPS join forces in Atlanta during Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month with partners around the country to launch our next campaign to reach an 80% colorectal cancer screening rate nationwide. Learn more and register to attend in person (by March 5) or watch the live broadcast. Watch parties are also encouraged!

We’d also greatly appreciate your help in promoting the event and amplifying our messages! What can you do?

Read and share our event press release.

Engage on social media:

• Join the Social Media Rally from 10:00-11:00 AM ET on March 7! The social media rally will kick off the campaign launch. We will be interviewing community influencers, leaders, and celebrities who are joining the campaign to reach 80% colorectal cancer screening rates in every community. Watch the livestream at Facebook.com/MayoClinic.
• We’re In! Post a photo holding this sign with #80inEveryCommunity or email it to [email protected]. You could be featured in the live broadcast!
• Post messages using #80inEveryCommunity to share what you are doing to reach 80%!
• Leading up to and during the events, get updates by following NCCRT on Twitter(@NCCRTnews) and Facebook, and the hashtag, #80inEveryCommunity.

Register for March 7

80% in Every Community Resources

As we enter March Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, don’t forget to visit NCCRT.org! The 80% in Every Community webpage is updated with campaign talking points, frequently asked questions, and logos and other graphics. More announcements and resources will be shared during March through our website and social media channels so please check back often.

New Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month Social Media Toolkit

The GW Cancer Center recently released a 2019 update to their Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month Social Media Toolkit, which is designed to help stakeholders implement evidence-based practices when communicating about colorectal cancer. It also includes posts using the new #80inEveryCommunity hashtag! Thank you to our friends at GW Cancer Center for sharing this useful resource.

Dress in Blue Day – Friday, March 1

Dress in Blue Day is Friday, March 1, 2019, an annual opportunity to spread awareness about colorectal cancer and the life-saving potential of colorectal cancer screening. Visit the Colorectal Cancer Alliance to learn more about how you can participate.

CDC Blog Post

Don’t miss this blog post from Faye Wong, MPH, Chief of the Program Services Branch in the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in which she shares a touching personal story and a call to action to take part in our joint colorectal cancer screening promotion activities this March.

Save the Date – 2019 NCCRT Annual Meeting, Nov. 19 – 21, 2019 in Baltimore, MD

NCCRT Members: Mark your calendars! – the 2019 NCCRT Annual Meeting will start with pre-conference activity, including late afternoon Task Group meetings, on Tuesday, Nov. 19th and close the afternoon of Thursday, November 21st. Please note: Our meeting will take place on Tuesday to Thursday this year instead of our previous Wednesday to Friday schedule. More information, including sponsorship opportunities, will be posted soon.

NCCRT Task Group Meetings at Dialogue for Action 2019

The Prevent Cancer Foundation’s 2019 Dialogue for Action will take place from April 24 to 26 at Hilton Crystal City at the Washington National Airport. As in year’s past, the NCCRT Community Health Centers Task Group will be convening to discuss 2019 action plans, projects and progress. The task group session will occur during late afternoon on April 24.

Please complete this form indicating your interest for attendance and help us better understand our expected group size.

Complete Interest Form

Relevant Journal Articles, Reports, and News Stories

• This week the Annals of Internal Medicine published Performance Characteristics of Fecal Immunochemical Tests for Colorectal Cancer and Advanced Adenomatous Polyps: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis, by Thomas F. Imperiale, et al., in which the authors summarize performance characteristics of FITs for colorectal cancer and advanced adenomas in average-risk persons undergoing screening colonoscopy.

ACS CAN Letter Signing Opportunity

The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, an NCCRT member, shared the following opportunity:

We invite your organizations to sign on to a letter from patient, provider, and consumer advocacy organizations in support of the Removing Barriers to Colorectal Cancer Screening Act (HR 1017 and S 479 in the 115th Congress). This template letter is addressed to the House sponsors. Deadline for signing on is COB on Friday, March 1. (This letter is not for individuals – only organizations)

We hope to send these letters to coincide with re-introduction of the bills the week of March 4, for Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. The language in this Congress’s legislation will be identical to last year’s, besides updating some of the facts and figures in the “findings” section.

The issue:

Under current law, Medicare covers a screening colonoscopy for beneficiaries without any cost-sharing. However, Medicare requires seniors pay a 20 percent coinsurance if polyps are found and removed during that screening. Removing precancerous polyps during a colonoscopy can prevent cancer, making colonoscopies a unique preventive service, but there is no way to know if you have polyps (and will incur cost-sharing) until after the colonoscopy is completed.

This coinsurance requirement can cause seniors to wake up to a surprise bill of as much as $350, which can act as a serious deterrent to this lifesaving cancer screening. Importantly, those who have private insurance do not face this same cost barrier. Enactment of the Removing Barriers to Colorectal Cancer Screening Act would fix this inequity in Medicare and remove the coinsurance requirement for a screening colonoscopy.

Supporting organizations in the 115th Congress:

• AARP
• Ambulatory Surgery Center Association
• American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network
• American College of Gastroenterology
• American College of Preventive Medicine
• American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer
• American Gastroenterological Association
• American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy
• Cancer Support Community
• Colorectal Cancer Alliance
• Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation
• Digestive Disease National Coalition
• Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered (FORCE)
• Fight Colorectal Cancer
• Prevent Cancer Foundation
• United Ostomy Associations of America

Please contact Stephanie Krenrich, Director, Federal Relations, at [email protected] if your organization will sign on by COB on Friday, March 1, if you’d like a copy of the Senate template letter, and/or if you have any questions.

Many thanks to all of you for the important work you do. Have a good week!

The NCCRT Team[vc_tweetmeme][vc_facebook]