AS I SEE IT
According to the American Can colorectal cancer screening has im
with finances and ease of scheduling. For patients who have a high deduct- ible or no insurance, we offer Colo- noscopyAssist. This program pro- vides colonoscopies at an affordable and fixed all-inclusive rate. The flat rate includes all costs related to the procedure: physician fees, facility or hospital fees, sedation or anesthesia costs, the cost of removing an unlim- ited number of polyps and perform- ing unlimited biopsies, and pathol- ogy costs. ColonoscopyAssist does not cover consultation, prep medi- cine, follow-up care and reference pathology or genetic testing. How- ever, patients may request discounted rates for a consultation and financial assistance for prep medicines. To help facilitate ease of schedul- ing, we have developed the Scopes for Hope program at our center. Patients who are 40 and older and have a history of colorectal cancer, and patients 50 and older who have never had a screening colonoscopy, may take advantage of this program and have their colonoscopy with us without a referral from their fam- ily physician. Most insurance plans cover this service 100 percent with no out-of-pocket expenses for the patients. A patient can call our cen- ter and speak to a staff member who walks them through a questionnaire to determine if they are a candidate. Once we determine that they are a candidate, we send the patient’s information to our GI physician’s office and the patient is scheduled at our facility for their screening colo- noscopy. By taking on the screen-
Colorectal cancer, a highly preventable and treatable disease, causes the second highest number of cancer deaths in the US, according to the American Cancer Society.”
—Cindy Young, RN, CASC, Surgery Center of Farmington LLC
ing process and referral, we save the family physician’s office extra work with referral paperwork and calls. This also keeps patients coming to our facility instead of being referred to a different facility each time. With elective surgeries coming to a halt for more than two months because of the COVID-19 pandemic, colonos- copies have been on hold. This means
more missed opportunities to prevent or treat the disease early.
What are you doing in your com- munity to encourage people to get colonoscopies?
director of Surgery Center of Farmington .
ASC FOCUS SEPTEMBER 2020 |
ascfocus.org 9
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