AS I SEE IT Take Steps, Be Heard for Crohn’s


& Colitis: This Crohn’s and Coli- tis Foundation of America’s (CCFA) event is one of the largest fundraising and awareness programs for the more than 1.4 million American adults and children affected by digestive diseases like Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Find out where the next walk will be at http://www.ccfa.org/get- involved/ take-steps.html.


Create Your Own Don’t see a colon cancer awareness event in your area? Host your own. In part with the Colon Cancer Coalition, Get Your Rear in Gear has the option of starting your own race. Organizers can submit their request at coloncancer coalition.org/get-involved/start-your- own-race. Have a Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month event at your ASC. Hold an open house or a general com- munity health fair at your center. Give out information about screenings and talk about the importance of getting screened. Organizing and planning the event is crucial. It is important to identify your audience, plan your pro- gram, send out invitations and market your event accordingly, as well as to reach out to media to spread the word before the day of the event. Identify public policy officials who help sup- port the cause—everyone from state and local department staff to your governor, state legislators and mem- bers of Congress. The more wide- spread the support, the greater the outreach of awareness.


Encourage a Healthy Lifestyle Encourage families to get active together. Exercise might help reduce the risk of colorectal cancer. Offer a healthy cook book to patients as a giveaway or center promotion. Direct them toward personal health tools such as keeping


a daily food and


activity diary, using a fiber calculator, using physical activity/fitness assess- ment tools (such as Fitbit or Fuel-


Band), using phone apps that track diet and fitness (such as Diet Assis- tant or My Fitness Pal), or using the Colorectal Cancer Assessment risk calculator at www.cancer.gov/ colorectalcancerrisk.


Offer a Free Screening Many of the New York-based centers that partner with Physicians Endos- copy have developed a robust charita- ble care program with the mission of providing free colorectal care screening and surveillance to uninsured individu- als. Since its launch in 2012, the goal of the program has been to provide free colonoscopy screening to uninsured patients, covering the entire service fee from anesthesia to pathology. For insured patients, discuss health


coverage. Patients may qualify for a free screening under their health insur- ance plan and might not even know it. As deductibles and overall patient liability rise, patients determine what health care needs are most important


and balance this with financial reali- ties. The Patient Protection and Afford- able Care Act (PPACA) requires health care insurance plans to cover preven- tative services—without any cost shar- ing—for patients between the ages of 50 and 75. Medicare, however, does not follow the same guidelines but does cover a screening in full when the procedure does not result with a diag- nostic maneuver. In either case, verifi- cation of benefits plays a crucial role in screening. Screening colonoscopies could save patients cash and poten- tially their lives.


Annie Sariego, CASC, is an ASCAPAC board member and senior vice president of operations at Physicians Endoscopy in Jamison, Pennsylvania. Write her at


asariego@endocenters.com. Lori


Trzcinski is the marketing manager at Physicians Endoscopy. Write her at ltrzcinski@endocenters.com.


ASC FOCUS MARCH 2018 | www.ascfocus.org 9


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