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Screening Colonoscopy Program Reaps Rewards ‘Scopes for Hope’ at Surgery Center of Farmington sees early success BY ROBERT KURTZ


L


ast year was a difficult year for the gastroenterology service line


at the Surgery Center of Farmington in Farmington, Missouri, says Cindy Young, RN, CASC, the ASC’s admin- istrative director. After starting the year with five gastroenterology physi- cians, only one remained at the end. “We lost physicians to hospital


employment,” she says. “These phy- sicians took their referrals to the hos- pital. What is unfortunate is that these patients do not realize they have a choice of where to go for their proce- dures. They also do not know they can receive their screening colonoscopies with no out-of-pocket expenses for some insurances.” The ASC wanted to find a way to


attract these patients. The idea of how to do so came from another surgery center.


Building on a Concept One of the ASC’s nurses underwent a procedure not offered at the Surgery Center of Farmington at another sur- gery center. “After her procedure, she told us the other ASC had fliers that raised awareness of the importance of undergoing a screening colonos- copy,” Young says. “The fliers essen- tially said that if you are 40 years of age and have a family history of colon cancer or if you are over 50 and never had a colonoscopy before, speak with the scheduling department to arrange a screening colonoscopy. Our nurse asked if this was something we could do at our ASC. We all thought it was a great idea.” Recognizing an opportunity, Young


says, the Surgery Center of Farmington decided to develop a program around the concept. The ASC asked staff to


ter of Farmington worked with a local newspaper to develop a logo and put together an ad, which ran for a few weeks in December. From that ad, nine people called and scheduled their screening colonoscopy, Young says. The Surgery Center of Farmington then printed a standing banner, which now sits in the ASC’s front lobby. In February, the ASC printed fliers that are provided to all patients who check into the surgery center and included in every patient statement mailed out. Following the success with the first


ad, the ASC decided to run it again, signing up for the ad to appear in the newspaper the entire month of March to coincide with National Colon Can- cer Awareness Month, Young says.


recommend names for it; “Scopes for Hope” was chosen. “We thought this was the perfect name as a lot of people are living with colon cancer every day and do not even know it,” Young says. “You have hope by getting a screening colonoscopy.” The program launched in Decem-


ber 2016.


Promoting the Program With the name picked out, the next step was to educate the community about the program. The Surgery Cen-


38 ASC FOCUS JUNE/JULY 2017 |www.ascfocus.org


Raising Awareness Young says the next phase of promot- ing the program will be to reach out to independent family practices that can potentially serve as referral sources. “For some of the independent phy- sicians, it is a big hassle for their office to schedule screening colonoscopies,” she says. “Their office staff needs to spend time calling the insurance, per- forming verification, calling a GI phy- sician to schedule it, etc. With us, all they have to do is tell their patients to call the ASC and schedule their screen- ing colonoscopy. We take care of all of the legwork.” A few family physicians have seen the banner and become referral resources, Young says. Visits to the offices of other family physicians are planned. “We are encouraged by the program’s


early success,” she says. “It is a great feeling to give hope to our patients.”


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