Outreach for Patients With Uncompleted Colorectal Cancer Screening Orders

Using Precision Performance Measurement To Conduct Focused Quality Improvement. Sub-Study 1.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether patient outreach is effective at increasing compliance with preventive screenings ordered by their physician. We hypothesize that educational outreach may increase completion rates.

We designed an intervention to focus on patients who have received and accepted a referral for colonoscopy, yet have exhibited some barriers to screening as demonstrated by a lack of screening completion. We conducted a randomized controlled trial to assess the effects of a multicomponent intervention (patient reminder, print and multimedia materials) on colorectal screening completion among this target population.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patient's physician has ordered a preventive screening test
• Patient has not completed this test in 3 months
• Patient of Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation General Internal Medicine Clinic.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patient has been given a more recent order for the same screening test.
• Patient has significant life stress as noted in the Electronic Health Record (EHR)