E0178 - Assessing the Impact of a Multi-Component Health System Intervention to Address Low Colorectal Cancer Screening Participation in Patients With a Family History of Colorectal Cancer

Introduction: In the United States, 3-10% of individuals have a family history of colorectal cancer (CRC). Population health strategies to increase CRC screening often exclude these individuals, and interventions to increase screening participation in this high-risk group are rare. We designed and implemented a multi-component health system intervention to increase CRC screening uptake among individuals with a family history of CRC that were excluded from mailed fecal immunochemical test (FIT) outreach in our health system.

Methods: The study was performed in a large academic medical center with biannual mailed FIT outreach for individuals at average-risk for CRC. We included patients who did not receive mailed FIT outreach in 2021 due to a family history of CRC. We excluded patients with a personal history of inflammatory bowel disease, colectomy, or CRC. The intervention included both primary care provider (PCP) and patient components. The PCP component was sent via the electronic health record (EHR) and included CRC screening guidelines for patients with a family history of CRC and a pended colonoscopy order for each patient overdue for screening. The patient component was delivered via the EHR patient portal and a mailed letter and included education about familial risk and colonoscopy, and a prompt to schedule a colonoscopy. Preliminary outcomes were measured 2-months post-intervention and were whether: (1) the PCP signed the pended colonoscopy order and (2) the patient scheduled colonoscopy. We used descriptive statistics to describe the study cohort and paired t-tests to compare the study outcomes pre- and post-intervention. The primary outcome of colonoscopy completion will be measured 6 months post-intervention.

Results: 152 patients received the intervention. The mean age was 61.3 years (s.d 7.0), 32.9% were male, and 42.1% were non-Hispanic White (Table). Colonoscopy orders increased from 32 (21.1%) to 92 (60.5%) from pre- to post-intervention (p< 0.0001) (Figure). Colonoscopies scheduled increased from 0 to 9 (5.9%) (p=0.002).

Discussion: We designed and evaluated the preliminary results of a health system intervention that aims to increase screening participation among individuals with a family history of CRC. There was a significant increase in both colonoscopies ordered and colonoscopies scheduled. This study demonstrates a successful population health strategy to increase provider and patient intention to screen in this high-risk population.