How Can Survivors & Families Save More Lives from Colorectal Cancer?

This newly updated brief shares how survivors and families can help advance the national effort to reach colorectal cancer screening rates of 80% and higher in adults ages 45 and older.

How Can Employers Save More Lives From Colorectal Cancer?

This newly updated brief shares how employers can help advance the national effort to reach colorectal cancer screening rates of 80% and higher in adults ages 45 and older.

Ready to take your work to increase colorectal cancer screening in the workplace to the next level? Download the NCCRT’s 80% In Every Community Employer Challenge Guide for a comprehensive, step-by-step guide including tools, resources and messaging to effectively increasing timely, quality colorectal cancer screening in the workplace.

How Can Women’s Health Providers Save More Lives from Colorectal Cancer?

This newly updated brief shares how women’s health providers can help advance the shared goal to reach colorectal cancer screening rates of 80% and higher in adults ages 45 and older.

NCCRT would like to thank the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists for supporting the development of this resource, and for their longtime commitment to advancing colorectal cancer screening as an NCCRT member. 

 

 

NCCRT Blue Star Conversation- March 29, 2022

On March 29, 2022, the NCCRT’s Family History & Early-Age Onset CRC (EAOCRC) Strategic Priority Team hosted the NCCRT’s first Blue Star Conversation, a new interactive program for NCCRT members and CDC grantees. The inaugural conversation, What Proportion of Early-Onset Colorectal Cancer is Potentially Preventable Based on Family History and Genetics?, featured Heather Hampel, MS, LGC, of City of Hope National Medical Center and co-chair of the Strategic Priority Team, who presented findings from the recent publication, A High Percentage of Early-age Onset Colorectal Cancer is Potentially Preventable, published in Gastroenterology. This recording features the expert speaker presentation portion of the program followed by a brief recap of the discussion section (the participant breakout discussions have been omitted).  

Visit NCCRT’s Events & Webinars page to find information about upcoming programs and events. 

Following are key takeaways from the presentation: 

  • ACS guidelines could result in an earlier diagnosis for 41.3% of EAOCRC
  • Surveillance guidelines for patients with a First-Degree Relative (FDR) with CRC are more effective without an age requirement
  • Surveillance guidelines for hereditary CRC are more effective than those for FDR only
  • 4% (117/713) of EAOCRC is potentially preventable
  • 9-14% of EAOCRC patients have a FDR with CRC
  • 16% of EAOCRC patients have a mutation in a cancer susceptibility gene

Key takeaways from the breakout room discussions:

  • The importance of lead time messaging to target different age groups (20- 45 year old);
    • Social media strategies
    • Marketing tools
    • Educational materials
    • Sharing best practices
  • The importance of insurance coverage for earlier screening for patients with a family history of CRC
  • The possibility of family history of CRC becoming a reportable HEDIS measure
  • The need to increase genetic testing within rural areas
  • The development of blood-based testing as a screening mechanism for early-onset patients
  • How TeleVideo has bridged the accessibility for cancer genetic counseling

RELEVANT LINKS:

Below are relevant links referenced in the March 29th webinar:

March 2022 Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month Webcast

On March 8th, 2022, the NCCRT convened over 300 attendees at its seventh annual Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month Webcast to celebrate national achievements and to share the latest state of the field updates.

The webcast opened with an overview of the landscape of colorectal cancer screening in 2022, including information on ongoing impacts from COVID and recent policy successes. The program then featured the NCCRT’s six 80% in Every Community National Achievement Award honorees, who shared about their strategies and successes in reaching under-represented communities for colorectal cancer screening and breaking down barriers to screening at both the community and state policy level.

The webinar included leaders thought-leaders and policy experts, including:

  • Steven Itzkowitz, MD, Gastroenterologist and Professor, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; NCCRT Chair
  • Robert Smith, PHD; Senior Vice President, Cancer Screening; American Cancer Society; NCCRT Co-chair
  • Lisa Richardson, MD, MPH, Director, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; NCCRT Steering Committee
  • Donald Moore, CEO, Pueblo Community Health Center, 2022 80% in Every Community National Achievement Award Grand Prize Recipient
  • Linda Thurman-Sanchez, RN, Clinical Programs Nursing Manager, Pueblo Community Health Center, 2022 80% in Every Community National Achievement Award Grand Prize Recipient
  • Keith Winfrey, MD, MPH, CMO, New Orleans East Louisiana Community Health Center; NCCRT Steering Committee; 2019 80% by 2018 National Achievement Award Grand Prize Recipient
  • Shivan Mehta, MD, MBA, Associate Chief Innovation Officer, Penn Medicine; Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, 2022 80% in Every Community National Achievement Award Honoree
  • Joseph Ravenell, MD, Associate Professor in the Departments of Population Health and Medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine
  • Mia Ackerman, Member, Rhode Island House of Representatives
  • Desiree Berenguer Carton, Director, Regional Integrated Marketing, American Cancer Society Northeast Region (Host)

Following are several relevant links referenced in the webcast:

 

The Dos and Don’ts of Colorectal Cancer Screening

This newly updated one-page flyer may be used to remind clinicians about some of the dos and don’ts when it comes to colorectal cancer screening. Partners have the option to cobrand the flyer with their organization’s logo. Contact your local American Cancer Society to learn more.

The flyer was updated in March 2022 to reflect the colorectal cancer screening starting age of 45 for average risk patients. Partners have the option to use one of two versions in 2022:

  • Age 45: This version references the starting age of 45 with no caveats (for health systems and health plans that are already covering screening at age 45 for all patients). 
  • Age 45 with 2023 caveat: This version references the starting age of 45 and includes an asterisk that explains that some health plans will not be required to follow the May 2021 USPSTF recommendation that lowered the age from 50 to 45 until 2023 (for health systems and health plans serving patients that may not yet have coverage for screening at age 45). 

Webinar – What Do the Data Tell Us: What Can We Learn from the Latest Colorectal Cancer Screening Rate Trends Over Time? – November 3, 2021

This webinar provided a look at the latest data that informs how we are doing as a nation with our efforts to reach an 80% colorectal cancer screening rate. The webinar included a review of the key colorectal cancer screening data sets: BRFSS, NHIS, HEDIS, and UDS. Participants heard from experts as they gave an update on where we are progressing and where we still need to focus, to help inform your work ahead. 

Speakers:

  • Lisa Richardson, MD, MPH, Director, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, NCCRT Steering Committee
  • Sepheen Byron, Assistant Vice President, Performance Measurement, National Committee for Quality Assurance
  • Neeraj Deshpande MBBS, MPH, MHA, Public Health Analyst, Quality Recognition and Health Promotion Team, Bureau of Primary Health Care/Office of Quality Improvement, DHHS/Health Resources and Services Administration
  • Stacey Fedewa, Senior Principal Scientist, Surveillance Research, American Cancer Society, Inc.

Note: Slides for three of the four presentations have been approved to share and can be downloaded through the button on this page. We will post the final deck and the replay to this page as soon as we receive approval to share all presentations.

Note: Data and data set measurement specifications were current as of November 3, 2021, but may become obsolete when changes are made in the future.

NCCRT Learning Center

The NCCRT Learning Center is a digital learning platform which features courses, tools, and other resources on colorectal cancer screening delivery and research. Current educational offerings include:

  • The Colonoscopy Needs Calculator—This tool estimates the number of colonoscopies your practice can realistically anticipate with a high-quality stool-based colorectal cancer screening program based on various screening rate goals and other data inputs. It also provides an estimation of what the total colonoscopy need would cost a system as well as a comparison between the costs of treating cancer and costs of providing colonoscopies.
  • The Communications Education Portal—This course houses our suite of market research findings on the unscreened for colorectal cancer and messaging recommendations to more effectively develop communication campaigns and resources for unscreened populations. Learners can peruse the market research findings from start to finish or jump in to find just what you need to educate, empower, and mobilize those who are not getting screened for colorectal cancer.

We plan to populate the NCCRT Learning Center with additional tools and learning modules over time. Users can create an account to track your progress, learn when new content is released, and access more courses as they become available.

 

2021 USPSTF Colorectal Cancer Screening Recommendation Lowers Screening Age from 50 to 45: Implications for NCCRT Partners – June 7, 2021

On May 18, 2021, the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) released a final Recommendation, Evidence Summary, and Modeling Study on screening for colorectal cancer. The primary difference from the previous 2016 recommendation is that average risk adults are now recommended to start screening at age 45, in alignment with the American Cancer Society’s 2018 recommendation.

During this NCCRT webinar, a panel of expert speakers discussed:

  • What changed in the new recommendation? And what data informed the decision to lower the screening age to 45?
  • How does the new recommendation impact insurance coverage and what is the timeline?
  • When will the new guideline be reflected in colorectal cancer screening quality measures and national screening rate indicators?
  • What data do we have on screening in 45-49 year olds and what do we know about them?
  • The experiences of one state (Indiana) that began implementing screening at age 45 statewide following legislation to lower the screening age in 2019.

Speakers:

  • Heather Dacus, DO, MPH; Director, Bureau of Cancer Prevention and Control, NYS Department of Health; NCCRT Policy Action Strategic Priority Team Co-chair (Moderator)
  • Robert Smith, PHD; Senior Vice President, Cancer Screening; American Cancer Society; NCCRT Co-chair
  • Anna Schwamlein Howard; Principal, Policy Development, Access to and Quality of Care; American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network
  • Sepheen Byron; Assistant Vice President of Performance Measurement, the National Committee for Quality Assurance 
  • Stacey Fedewa, PhD; Scientific Director, Screening and Risk Factors Surveillance; American Cancer Society
  • Bryan Hannon; Regional Government Relations Director; American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network

Colorectal Cancer Screening & COVID-19 Update: A look at the current landscape one year into the pandemic – April 15, 2021

During this webinar, we reconvened the authors of NCCRT’s Reigniting Colorectal Screening During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Playbook (released June 2020), which advised how NCCRT members, 80% pledged partners, and colorectal cancer screening advocates across the nation can work together to reengage our screening efforts appropriately, safely, and equally for all communities. The NCCRT hosted a previous discussion with the authors on July 23, 2020. This webinar brought the group back together to discuss what progress we’ve made and what challenges remain for colorectal cancer screening in 2021.

Panelists:

  • Durado Brooks, MD, MPH – Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Screening Business Unit, Exact Sciences
  • Rachel Issaka, MD, MAS — Assistant Professor, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center & the University of Washington
  • Steven Itzkowitz, MD, FACP, FACG, AGAF — Professor of Medicine and Oncological Sciences Director, Gastroenterology Fellowship Program Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; NCCRT Steering Committee Member
  • Laura Makaroff, DO – Senior Vice President, Prevention and Early Detection, American Cancer Society
  • Michael Sapienza – CEO, Colorectal Cancer Alliance
  • Richard Wender, MD — Chair, National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable; Chair, Family Medicine and Community Health University of Pennsylvania