MESSAGE FROM THE CEO ASCs Instrumental in Increasing NYC Colorectal Cancer Screening Rates
M
arch is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month and I have good news to share: ASCs in New York City (NYC) took part in a citywide initiative that increased the rate of colorectal cancer screening by colonoscopy in the city from 42 percent to 69 percent between 2003 and 2011. During the same eight-year period, that initiative also helped eliminate racial and ethnic screening disparities among black, white, Hispanic and Asian New Yorkers. Now a new task force has set its sights even higher, and has a strategy to bring NYC’s screening rate up to 80 percent. The NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) organized the Citywide Colon Cancer Control Coalition (C5) in March 2003 to increase colon cancer screening initiatives through a combination of advocacy, resource development and policy initiatives. Advanced Endoscopy Center, Carnegie Hill Endoscopy Center and East Side Endoscopy Center, all in NYC, in collaboration with Physicians Endoscopy, joined the initiative to provide screening to the uninsured and the underserved. The program identified community health centers as an area of focus after an analysis of the data on screenings revealed that one of the most significant gaps in populations undergoing screenings was between insured and uninsured people. People with insurance were being screened at a rate of about 70 percent while the uninsured were being screened at around 50 percent. The biggest barrier to screening the uninsured and underinsured was gaining access
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6 ASC FOCUS MARCH 2016
to a facility and a physician. To overcome that, the ASCs developed a program that linked these patients in community health centers with physicians and ASCs that could provide screenings and their associated services, including prep kits, biopsies and pathologic analysis for specimens, for free. East Side Endoscopy hired a full-time on-site patient navigator to assist the patients, coordinate scheduling and act as a liaison with the community-based health centers. Once this was accomplished, the screening rate went up by 64 percent in just eight years. As part of the initiative, East Side Endoscopy did 242 free procedures in 2015, 253 in 2014 and 101 in 2013, while Carnegie Hill Endoscopy provided 272 free screening colonoscopies in 2015, 231 in 2014 and 157 in 2013. Both centers worked closely with the NYC DOHMH and the American Cancer Society Community Cares Project to identify health centers in NYC that were interested in partnering with the endoscopy centers to create referral agreements for their uninsured patients. Other ASCs in New York State also joined the C5 initiative. They included the Long Island Center for Digestive Health and the Island Digestive Health Center in Long Island, and the Hudson Valley Center for Digestive Health, the Endoscopy Center of Western New York and the Endoscopy Center of Niagara in upstate New York. The goals for the future of C5 include attainment of the 80 percent colorectal cancer screening rate objective. A second goal centers on quality initiatives, such as appropriate follow-up and surveillance intervals. If you are interested in obtaining additional information on free screening
initiatives, contact Ann Sariego, vice president of operations at Physicians Endoscopy at
asariego@endocenters.com or 917.509.6978.
Bill Prentice Chief Executive Officer
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