Blog Post

CRC News – Week of September 11, 2017

CRC News – Week of September 11, 2017
The following email news update was shared with NCCRT members and partners on Tuesday, September 12th, 2017. Please email [email protected] to subscribe to our regular email updates.

The 2017 80% by 2018 Partner Survey Launches Today
Our third annual 80% by 2018 Partner Survey will arrive in your inbox later this afternoon by way of an email from NCCRT Chair Dr. Richard Wender. The survey is designed to help us better understand how the organization you represent is advancing colorectal cancer screening and how we can better support those efforts. We’re especially eager to get your feedback this year since it will help inform how we double down on our efforts in the last 16 months of the 80% by 2018 initiative and begin to plan our work beyond 2018. We would greatly appreciate it if you would take the time to complete the survey. Please watch for the email from Dr. Wender, which will include your personal survey link.

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 phase of our colorectal cancer screening work. This webinar will be open to NCCRT members, ACS staff, 80% by 2018 pledgers, CDC grantees and others interested in the effort. You must be pre-registered to join the webinar.

Change at this Year’s Meeting of the NCCRT – Task Groups will Meet on Wednesday, December 6th from 5:00pm to 6:30pm.
Please note – there will be a change to the scheduling of the NCCRT Task Group meetings at this year’s NCCRT annual meeting, to be held December 7th and 8th in Bethesda, MD. This year, the Steering Committee is recommending that the Task Group meetings be held during the pre-conference session on Wednesday evening, December 6th from 5:00pm to 6:30pm.

The reason for this change is that as the NCCRT meeting attendance continues to grow, there is an inevitable influx of new attendees, including to the task group meetings. We believe that by moving the Task Group sessions to the pre-conference session, the attendees who self-select to come to the task group meetings will be more interested and motivated to participate in task group work, both at the meeting and year round.

Further, Task Group meeting attendees will be required to participate in (or watch a replay of) a short task group webinar, the dates of which will be announced in the next CRC News. During these webinars the task group co-chairs will recap the work of the task group, in order to ensure that we don’t spend valuable face-to-face meeting time getting the group up to speed. Rather, the intention is that the in-person time can be used to advance key issues and projects.

These changes have been made after careful review of the 2016 year meeting evaluations. We will, of course, evaluate how this new format is received and will continue to make changes to try and ensure that you each feel you have a productive and engaged task group with which to work year round. Please plan for this new time accordingly. We hope you will be able to join your task group on December 6th! Please email [email protected] with questions or for more information.

Welcome to New NCCRT Members!
We are pleased to announce the addition of two new NCCRT Member organizations, UT Southwestern (UTSW)/Moncrief Cancer Institute (MCI), which will be represented by Dr. Keith Argenbright and Stacie Miller, as well as the University of Chicago’s Center for Asian Health Equity, which will be represented by Dr. Karen Kim and Fornessa Randal.  Please join me in extending a warm welcome to these new NCCRT Members!

Relevant Journal Articles

  • A new study published in Gastroenterology found that a financial incentive resulted in modestly higher screening colonoscopy uptake. Study authors performed a randomized controlled trial of 2245 employees of a large health care system to determine whether an email containing a phone number for scheduling (control), an email with the active choice to opt in or opt out (active choice), or the active choice email plus a $100 incentive (financial incentive) increased colonoscopy completion within 3 months. Higher proportions of participants in the financial incentive group underwent screening (3.7%) than in the control (1.6%) or active choice groups (1.5%). They found no difference in uptake of screening between the active choice and control groups. The $100 conditional incentive modestly, but significantly increased colonoscopy use. According to the article, previous data suggest that some patients become motivated to undergo colorectal cancer screening by financial incentives, which may be reasonable given the cost-effectiveness of screening.  Congratulations to study author, Dr. Chyke Doubeni, as well as to the other authors.  Thank you to NCCRT Steering Committee member, Dr. Heather Hampel for sharing this article with us.
  • A new CDC study published in Preventing Chronic Disease examined the feasibility of using practice facilitation to assist federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) in increasing colorectal cancer screening rates in North Carolina.  Overall, the percentage of eligible patients with a documented colorectal cancer screening recommendation increased from 15% to 29%. The percentage of patients up to date with colorectal cancer screening rose from 23% to 34%. Key informants in all 3 clinics said the implementation support from the practice facilitator was critical for initiating or improving office systems.  The study concluded that practice facilitation is a feasible, acceptable, and promising approach for supporting universal colorectal cancer screening in FQHCs. A larger-scale study is warranted.  Congratulations to study author, Dr. Catherine Rohweder, as well as to the other authors.  Thank you to Randy Schwartz for bringing this article to our attention.

New Public Use Database Covers 100% of U.S. Population
CDC has released a public use research NPCR and SEER Incidence – United States Cancer Statistics database that provides cancer data from all 50 U.S. states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. This is the first time combined data from the CDC’s National Program of Cancer Registries (NPCR) and NCI’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program have been made available in this format.

New Preventive Services Tool for Providers and Practices from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
This new educational tool from CMS provides the following information on Medicare preventive services: Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS)/Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes; International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) diagnosis codes; coverage requirements; frequency requirements; and Medicare beneficiary liability for each Medicare preventive service.

Watch the CMS Provider Minute: Preventive Services video for pointers to help you submit sufficient documentation when billing for certain preventive services.  Many thanks to Barry Berger for bringing this resource to our attention!

Congratulations to the 22 State Teams that Attended our July and September 80% by 2018 Forums!
Congratulations to twenty-two (22) state teams that attended one of two 80% by 2018 Forums held in Atlanta, GA earlier this summer.  All teams include six (6) organizations/key members.  Selected teams for the July forum were: Arkansas, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, and Rhode Island.  Selected teams for the September Forum were: Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, North Dakota, South Carolina, Washington, Illinois, Kansas, Montana, Ohio, and West Virginia.  The forums were sponsored by CDC, the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society, the NCCRT, NACDD, NACHC, HRSA and other national partners.  Participants received training on topics such as reaching out to partners and stakeholders, enhancing patient navigation systems, and communication strategies for clinics and health systems, all while working toward development of a state colorectal cancer screening action plan.  Special thanks to the many experts who served as speakers, facilitators, planning committee members and subject matter experts.  It was an incredible effort with many hands helping!

15th Annual How Do You Measure Up? Report – American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network
Some of you may be interested in this report from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, which was released last month, How Do You Measure Up?  The report is now live on acscan.org where you can download the full version. The report is an annual snapshot of key state policies, particularly important as the nation is looking toward more state-driven solutions to address chronic disease prevention and access to health coverage.  There is a special two page section in the report on 80% by 2018 and features a CRC screening legislative success story from Arkansas.  Congratulations to our friends in Arkansas!

Community Health Centers Receive Recognition from the American Cancer Society
In honor of last month’s National Health Center Week, the American Cancer Society (ACS) recognized outstanding achievement among community health centers with the ACS’s first-ever national community health center awards. These national awards recognize the best CHCs in seven categories: health screening, public housing, homeless, agricultural worker, consumer board, and children’s health.  Please join me in congratulating all the winners, including:

  • Peoples Community Health Clinic, Waterloo, IA
    Award category: health screenings (colorectal cancer screening)
  • Legacy Community Health, Houston, TX
    Award category: health screenings (colorectal cancer screening)
  • Hudson River HealthCare, Peekskill, NY
    Award category: consumer board member (winner: Alan Steiner, HRH Board of Directors chair for support of colorectal cancer screening)

Read more about the awards, as well as the other winners in this blog from Dr. Richard Wender.

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