Blog Post

CRC News – Week of August 14, 2017

CRC News – Week of August 14, 2017

The following email news update was shared with NCCRT members and partners on Friday, August, 18th, 2017. Please email [email protected] to subscribe to our regular email updates.

Happy 8/18 Day, the official holiday of the 80% by 2018 effort!   Lots of news to share, as we celebrate our self-created holiday…

Register for 80% by 2018 Progress Webinar, to be held on Tuesday, Oct. 3rd at 1:00pm ET:
Please register for a special upcoming webinar 80% by 2018 Progress, which will feature NCCRT Chair and ACS Chief Cancer Control Officer, Dr. Richard Wender. The webinar will be held at 1:00pm ET on Tuesday, October 3rd. The purpose of the webinar is look at the latest CRC screening measures and discuss what they tell us about our progress and challenges, discuss the urgency needed over the next 15 months and share plans for the transition to the next iteration of our colorectal cancer screening work. This webinar will be open to NCCRT members, ACS staff, 80% by 2018 partners, CDC grantees and others interested in the effort.  You must be pre-register to join the webinar.

2016 UDS Rates for CRC Screening are Now Available:
The 2016 national average for CRC screening in HRSA-funded health centers has just been released and is at 39.9%, which increased from 38.3% in 2015. Visit the HRSA website for an additional understanding of the rates. There are now 28 community health centers (CHCs) that have reached 80%, a jump up from 19 last year! View our 80% by 2018 Hall of Fame to see the list of these centers that are meeting or exceeding our shared goal. Congratulations to all our colleagues working in health centers, as well as to the many of you who work to support health centers on this continued improvement!

NCCRT Celebrates National Health Center Week with 80% by 2018 Blog:
Join us in celebrating community health centers this week, National Health Center Week (NHCW), by checking out our new 80% by 2018 Blog post on the critical role of CHCs in the fight against CRC. Thank you to Drs. Durado Brooks and James Hotz, co-chairs of NCCRT’s Community Health Center Task Group, for sharing their reflections on the incredible progress CHCs are making to increase CRC screening. Share the link (http://ow.ly/WL2dI) and/or retweet/repost the messages we’ve already shared through @NCCRTnews and facebook.com/coloncancerroundtable.

Also, be sure to visit the NHCW blog to read a post authored by NCCRT chair Dr. Rich Wender and visit https://healthcenterweek.org/ to find social media tools, a media toolkit, fact sheets, and more to use in thanking the CHCs that you work with. Finally, please join us in giving a shout out to the nearly 200 CHCs that have pledged 80% by 2018! #ValueCHCs

Replay of NCCRT Webinar on Links of Care Now Available:
In case you missed it, you can access a replay of the NCCRT July 27th webinar Links of Care: Successes and Lessons Learned from Three Pilot Sites. Many thanks to our presenters, Sue Lagarde, Julia Williams, Chris Singer and Kara Riehman for sharing their lessons learned during the webinar! As a reminder, all NCCRT webinars are archived and can be accessed here.

Updated CDC Community Guide for Colorectal Cancer Screening Interventions Released:
In case you missed it, the CDC recently posted their updated community guide for CRC. The recommendations now place a bigger emphasis on multi-component interventions. The major findings are that multicomponent interventions increased colorectal cancer screening by any test by a median of 15.4 percentage points when compared with no intervention. The largest screening increases were seen among multicomponent interventions that combined approaches from each of the three strategies or that combined approaches to increase community demand and access. Learn more by looking at this one-pager with additional information. Many thanks to Stacey Fedewa for sharing this update with us.

ACS Study Shows Colorectal Cancer Death Rates Rising in People Under 55:
An ACS study appeared last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), showing that colorectal cancer mortality rates have increased in white adults ages 20 to 54 since the mid-2000s, after falling for decades. You can view the JAMA article here. These findings reinforce earlier ACS work published last February that identified an increase in colorectal cancer incidence rates among young and middle-aged adults in the US. You can also view an NCCRT news article on the study here. Congratulations to Rebecca Siegel, as well as the other authors, for their continued work on this important issue.

Upcoming Cancer Moonshot Funding Opportunities
Following receipt of the Blue Ribbon Panel (BRP) report, the NCI established implementation teams to consider multiple ways to fund Cancer Moonshot-related research. The teams have identified and the NCI Board of Scientific Advisors has approved nine upcoming funding opportunity announcements that directly address the goals of the Cancer Moonshot, including one on Accelerating Colorectal Cancer Screening and Follow-Up Through Implementation Science (ACCSIS). While these funding opportunities have not yet been formally released, they are expected to be formerly published in the coming months pending the appropriation of fiscal year (FY) 2018 funding for Cancer Moonshot. To learn more about these FOA’s please visit the Cancer Moonshot Upcoming Funding Opportunities web page.

Eleven Additional State Teams Selected to Attend September 80% by 2018 Forum
Eleven (11) state teams have been selected to attend the third 80% by 2018 Forum in Atlanta, GA on September 6th and 7th. All teams include six (6) organizations/key members.  Selected teams are: Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, North Dakota, South Carolina, Washington, Illinois, Kansas, Montana, Ohio, and West Virginia. This is the third in a series of forums sponsored by CDC, the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society, the NCCRT, NACDD, NACHC, HRSA and other national partners.  Participants will receive training on topics such as reaching out to partners and stakeholders, enhancing patient navigation systems, and communication strategies for clinics and health systems, while working to create a state colorectal cancer screening action plan. Congratulations to these eleven teams!

Relevant Journal Articles
Here are a few relevant articles/studies that may be of interest:

A study on patient navigation and colonoscopy completion that was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that navigation significantly improved colonoscopy screening completion among a racially diverse, low-income population. The study concludes that the results contribute to mounting evidence demonstrating the efficacy of patient navigation in increasing colorectal cancer screening and that screening can be further enhanced when navigation is combined with other evidence-based practices implemented in healthcare systems and the community. Congratulations to NCCRT friends, Amy DeGroff, Paul Schroy and Djenaba Joseph, as well as the other study authors.

The journal Cancer published a study that found a centralized mailed program with stepped increases of support increased CRC screening adherence. The study concluded that in a health care organization with clinic-based activities to increase CRC screening, a centralized program led to increased CRC screening adherence over 5 years. Congratulations to Bev Green and the other study authors!  Many thanks to Durado Brooks for bringing this study to our attention.

A study published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology found that replacing the guaiac fecal occults blood test (gFOBT) with the fecal immunochemical test (FIT) increased the proportion of individuals screened. The study concluded that replacement of the gFOBT with the FIT should be strongly considered by all healthcare systems.  Congratulations to NCCRT friend, Jim Allison, as well as the other authors! Many thanks to Durado Brooks for bringing this study to our attention.

The American Journal of Gastroenterology published an article highlighting ACG’s role in the national 80% by 2018 effort. Many thanks to Jordan Karlitz, Anne-Louise Oliphant, Dave Greenwald and Mark Pochapin for documenting this important work.

The Annual NCCRT Meeting will Be in December this year!  Save the Dates — December 6th, 7th and 8th
Members, please mark your calendars for this year’s meeting of the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable, which will be held on December 7th and 8th at the DoubleTree Hilton in Bethesda, MD. Pre-conference sessions will be held on Wednesday, December 6th. The general meeting is tentatively scheduled to start at 8:00 am on Thursday, December 7th and wrap up no later than 12:30 pm on Friday, December 8th. You will receive more detailed information regarding the meeting in the coming months.

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