Effectiveness of Direct-to-Patient Outreach on Colorectal Cancer Screening Within a Low Income and Diverse Population

Northwestern University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Malignant Neoplasm of Large Intestine

Treatments: Other: Care manager outreach

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01385579

STU00015652

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to determine if the direct mailing of fecal occult blood testing (FOBT) kits to patients who are due for colorectal cancer screening is an effective way to improve colorectal cancer screening rates within a low income and racially/ethnically diverse population.

Full description

Patients ages 50 to 80 who are identified through the electronic health record as not being up to date on colorectal cancer screening are eligible for the study and will be randomly assigned to the intervention or usual care group. Individuals in the intervention group will be mailed a letter informing them that they are due for colorectal cancer screening, educational material regarding colorectal cancer screening, a fecal occult blood testing (FOBT) kit, directions on how to use and return the FOBT kit. The proportion of patients assigned to the intervention versus usual care groups who complete a guideline recommended form of colorectal cancer screening within 4 months of the initiation of outreach will be compared.

Enrollment: 202 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 50 to 80 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Ages 50 to 80 as of 12/31/2009 At least 2 visits to the community health center between 7/1/2008 and 12/31/2009

Exclusion criteria

Documented fecal occult blood testing (FOBT) within 1 year (between 1/1/2009 and 12/31/2009) Documented sigmoidoscopy within 5 years (between 1/1/2005 and 12/31/2009) Documented colonoscopy within 10 years (between 1/1/2000 and 12/31/2009)

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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202 participants in 2 patient groups

usual care

No Intervention group

Description:

Patients assigned to the usual care arm may be referred for colorectal cancer screening by their providers per usual health center protocol and practice. They receive no additional outreach by the preventive care care manager.

Care manager outreach

Experimental group

Description:

Patients assigned to the intervention arm are mailed a letter informing them that they are due for colorectal cancer screening, educational information about colorectal cancer screening, a fecal occult blood testing (FOBT) kit, and directions on how to complete and return the FOBT kit

Treatment:

Other: Care manager outreach