Patient and Provider Support to Increase Colon Cancer Screening

Each year, approximately 1,500 New Yorkers die from colorectal cancer, but most of these deaths are preventable with proper screening. Private funding through the Fund for Public Health in New York (FPHNY) supported the launch of an innovative program by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to increase utilization of screening colonoscopy and increase access to preventive services to prevent colon cancer. The program engages patient and provider "navigators" to conduct community outreach and raise awareness of the importance of colon cancer screening, provide support to patients, and work with hospitals and providers to reduce barriers to accessing health care. A direct result of this program has been an 85% increase in screening colonoscopies, a 25% increase in cancers detected, and the prevention of approximately 663 cases of cancer in the past three years.

The navigator program is producing replicable systems and tools that can be introduced citywide with documented positive impact on health and at cost savings to the hospitals involved. Over four years the program has expanded from one pilot hospital site to eight hospitals and by the end of 2008 the program will be in 17 hospitals. Below are examples of some of the program's successes:

•	Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx increased screening colonoscopies 10-fold in three years
•	Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn increased colonoscopies 4.1-fold in 2 years
•	Elmhurst Hospital in Queens increased colonoscopies 1.5-fold after 1 year

Four years ago, only 43% of New Yorkers age 50 and older had been screened for colon cancer during the previous decade. Today, 60% of all New Yorkers 50 and older have had a colonoscopy in the past ten years, an increase of some 350,000 tests, representing a major achievement for the Take Care New York health agenda.