Welcome to the latest edition of CRC News, the American Cancer Society National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable (ACS NCCRT) periodic newsletter for ACS NCCRT members and partners working toward our shared goal to reach 80% in Every Community.   

2024 ACS NCCRT Annual Meeting Registration Opens Soon 

Don’t Miss Your Chance to Hear the Latest CRC Research, Practice, and Policy Updates in our Annual Meeting of the ACS NCCRT Membership 

We hope you are already saving the date for our 2024 ACS NCCRT Annual Meeting, which will take place November 20th to 22nd in Fort Worth, TX. We will share further details on the agenda, hotel, and registration in the coming weeks.   Each year, member organizations and corporate associates typically send one or two member representatives to the meeting, but we can accommodate up to four representatives to attend. Please email [email protected] if you’d like to confirm the names we have on our roster or to notify us if your member representatives have changed. 

New Opportunities to Get Involved and Apply for Funding to Support Patient Navigation 

The National Navigation Roundtable Needs Input and Prevent Cancer Foundation Grant Funding  

Read on for two new opportunities to get more involved with patient navigation: 

• Opportunity for health care institutions and community-based organizations that provide patient navigation services: The American Cancer Society National Navigation Roundtable (ACS NNRT) is distributing a brief survey in order to gather feedback regarding current experiences with the new billing codes developed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the American Medical Association (AMA) to support the reimbursement of patient navigation services. ACS NNRT will use the information gathered via the survey to develop recommendations to improve design and uptake of these codes. The survey is designed to gather feedback from institutions, who are and are not currently implementing the new codes. Take the survey or share with your patient navigation partners by August 6th. 
• Opportunity for community-based organizations, nonprofit health care organizations, and government and public agencies: The 2024-2026 Prevent Cancer Foundation Community Grant Funding application is now open. Community-based organizations can apply for a $100,000 grant over a two-year cycle to fund patient navigation. Learn more about the guidelines, instructions, and applyby September 10th.  

Register or Catch up on the Following ACS and ACS NCCRT Colorectal Cancer (CRC) Screening-focused Webinar Programs 

Stay in the Know with the Latest Tools to Support your CRC Screening Work 

• Registration is still open for the final webinar in the ACS’s summer webinar series focused on cancer care across the continuum and coalitions, titled, Promoting Non-Invasive CRC Screening (in partnership with the ACS NCCRT) on August 14, 2024, 1-2 PM ET. Featured speakers providing real world examples on the subject include Annie Thibault, MS, BS, Executive Director of the Colon Cancer Prevention Project and Frank Colangelo, MD, M.S.-HQS, FACP, Vice President and Chief Quality Officer for Premier Medical Associates.
• A recording is available of a webinar held by the ACS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research and members of the African Methodist Episcopal church on July 17, 2024. The webinar covers how to promote CRC screening in the AME church and similar communities. Watch the recording here. 
• On July 25, 2024, the ACS NCCRT highlighted our new CRC Data Dashboard geospatial mapping tool with a webinar. In the recording, you’ll hear an example of how mapping tools like this can be used to tailor interventions to increase colorectal cancer screening and impact outcomes in local areas. Watch the recording here. Do you have questions about using the tool? Register for drop in “office hours” for the CRC Data Dashboard on Thursday, August 15, from 1-2pm ET. 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Approved a Blood Test to Screen for CRC  

Discussions planned at the 2024 ACS NCCRT Annual Meeting  

Yesterday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a blood test to screen for CRC. The Shield blood test, developed by Guardant Health, an ACS NCCRT corporate associate member, is approved for adults age 45 and older who are at average risk of CRC and meets the performance requirements for Medicare coverage. However, the test is not included in the most recent US Preventive Services Task Force (2021) or ACS (2018) guidelines. Learn more about the performance characteristics of the test in this New England Journal of Medicine publication.   The 2024 ACS NCCRT Annual Meeting (Nov. 20-22) will feature a panel on the state of the science of current and emerging CRC screening tests. We look forward to engaging our members in discussion around what this approval and other recent CRC test developments mean for the landscape of CRC screening.  

Many thanks for the great work you do!

The ACS NCCRT Team

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