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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Renee Taylor, MPH, Health Care Assessment, Medical Review of North Carolina, Inc., PO Box 37309, Raleigh, NC 27627, 919-851-2955, ncpro.rtaylor@sdps.org, Anna Pittman Schenck, PhD, Health Assessment Division, Medical Review of North Carolina, 5625 Dillard Drive, Cary, NC 27511, and Nelson Gunter, MD, Carolina Medical Review, 250 Berryhill Rd., Suite 101, Columbia, SC 29210.
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States, yet only 32.8% of North Carolina Medicare consumers were tested for CRC during 1998-1999, and only 30.4% South Carolina Medicare Consumers were tested during that same period. These rates persist, despite Medicare coverage of all screening tests (FOBT, Flexible Sigmoidoscopy, Colonoscopy, and Barium Enema). Focus groups with patients reveal they are waiting for their provider to begin discussion of the disease, while discussions with providers imply they are waiting for the patient to begin discussion of screening. This presentation will describe the Provider Toolkit, developed by the NC/SC Quality Improvement Organization and distributed to NC and SC physicians who order them. The Toolkit contains basic information regarding CRC, detailed Medicare billing instructions, CRC screening rates for both states, and 8 office-based tools to use when discussing CRC with the patient. The tools in the Kit are designed to help the patient recognize the importance of obtaining a screening exam, learn how often he should be screened, and provide him with the vernacular for discussing the disease with his provider. Approximately 674 physicians in NC and 1,160 in SC were targeted, based on screening rates for various specialties, for the project. Process evaluations, including physician response to various targeted mailers by specialty and type of mailer, will be presented. Additionally, subsequent ordering (of tools in the Toolkit) patterns will be displayed. Finally, provider assessment of the toolkit will be analyzed and presented.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Cancer Prevention, Cancer Screening
Related Web page: www.mrnc.org
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Medical Review of North Carolina, Inc.
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.